Posted: Apr 10, 2022

No. 20 Texas Lutheran Moves Up SCAC Leaderboards After Split Meet Weekend

SEGUIN, Texas -- The No. 20 Texas Lutheran men's track and field team wrapped up a split meet weekend that saw the team compete at both the UIW Invitational in San Antonio as well as the Carl Kight Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas on the campus of Stephen F. Austin.

On Friday at Stephen F. Austin, Scottie Reyes (Dilley/Dilley) finished second overall in the shot put with a mark of 15.46 meters. Zachary Herman (Austin/Lake Travis) would finish fifth in the shot put with a mark of 14.74 meters. Weston Geiger (Shiner/St. Paul) would finish fourth in the javelin throw with a mark of 50.99 meters.

On Saturday, Reyes and Herman would once again put on a show amongst the Division-I competition to collect top five finishes in the hammer and discus throw. Herman would finish third in the hammer with a season best mark of 50.71m - taking the top spot on the SCAC leaderboard in the process. Reyes would finish fifth in the hammer throw with a mark of 47.52 meters and is now ranked second in the SCAC in the event. Reyes finished third in the discus with a mark of 48.83 mark. With that mark, Reyes moves into first place in the SCAC and tenth in all of Division-III as of this writing.

In sprints, Kaleb Brachett (Beaumont/West Brook) ran a season-best time of 51.97 seconds in the 400-meter dash to move into 11th in the SCAC. Jason Garcia (San Antonio/Reagan) finished third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 58.23 seconds. Garcia moves into third in the SCAC in the event.

Meanwhile at the UIW Invitational on Friday, Troy Stephenson (Marble Falls/Marble Falls) finished fifth in the pole vault with a mark of 4.35 meters. Caimen McDonough (Canyon Lake/Canyon Lake) finished sixth in the long jump - fourth amongst Division-III competitors - with a season best mark of 6.92-meters that, as of this writing, would move him into a top five position in the SCAC. McDonough would also finish tenth in the 400m hurdles (57.79 seconds).

In sprints, Ezrael Powell (San Antonio/Marshall) finished 14th overall - third amongst Division-III sprinters - in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.38 seconds.

On Saturday, the Texas Lutheran 4x100 relay team comprised of Powell, Elijah Jefferson(San Antonio/Construction Careers Academy), Bryce Powell-Chimene (Dayton/Dayton), and Wyatt Wilson (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) ran a season-best time of 41.90 to finish fourth overall and second amongst Division-III teams. The team remains second in the SCAC, but as of this writing now moves into the top 15 in Division-III.

Jefferson would collect the first top ten finish in his collegiate career in 100-meter dash on Saturday with a time of 10.79 seconds - which was the second fastest amongst Division-III sprinters. As of this writing, the time moves him into first place in the SCAC and in the top 40 nationally.

Full Results (SFA): http://www.jiratimingcompany.com/2022/sfainvite/

Full Results (UIW) Day 1: https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/mtrack-out/2021-22/files/day_1_results.pdf

Full Results (UIW) Day 2: http://www.bwraceresults.com/uiw/

Coach Holland's Comments: Split squads this week led to improvements at both locations. At SFA, the throwers matched up with teams we don't typically see at meets in our area. Diving right in to the predominantly Division-I meet, the throwers held their own and many saw improvements. Both Scottie Reyes and Zach Herman are very highly placed on the NCAA list in the Shot Put, but now each have added improvements and higher national rankings in the Discus and Hammer, respectively. Those that ran on the track at SFA also ran very competitively.

Meanwhile at UIW, the men saw a considerable number of improvements on the track. Personal bests and season's bests occurred on both days. Senior sprinter Ezrael Powell ran a great personal best in the 100, followed a couple minutes later by freshman Elijah Jefferson racing himself to an even faster time in the same event and earning a high ranking in Division 3. The duo paired up with sophomore Bryce Chimene and freshman Wyatt Wilson to get the baton quickly around the track in the 4x100 relay and earn a high ranking in Division 3. As a competitor in one of Caimen McDonough's events pointed out, "he's on fire today" as he continues to improve in many of his events.

All of those things were notable, but there were just so many more! It was just fun to be at a competition where the athletes were having fun and getting in there and competing. Again, it was just a great feeling to see how well everyone did and how there's promise of so much more success! We have Texas State next weekend and then Conference the week after, and I can see how competitive everyone is getting. The energy is building! We'll be ready for the championships in a couple weeks!"

Texas Lutheran is tentatively scheduled to split meets again next weekend to travel to Texas A&M-Kingsville to participate in the Cactus Cup as well as Texas State to participate in the Charles Austin Classic on April 15-16. For all updates on Texas Lutheran Track and Field, follow @tluthrows and @tluxctf on Instagram as well as as all official TLU Athletics accounts. All schedule updates can be found on tlubulldogs.com.