Wyatt Wilson, Elijah Jefferson, and Weston Guzman (from left to right) on the 100m dash podium (photo by Delvin Wilson; SCAC)

Posted: Apr 23, 2023

Texas Lutheran Wins Four Events; Take Second at SCAC Championships

GEORGETOWN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran men's track and field team closed out the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Track and Field Championships with a second place finish at the Southwestern Fieldhouse and Track on the campus of Southwestern University on Sunday.

The Bulldogs tallied 240 points over the course of the two-day meet to claim their second consecutive second place finish.

Texas Lutheran concluded their time at the conference championship with nine SCAC Champions, 20 podium finishes and several personal records.

Five individuals claimed gold on Sunday. Freshman Garrett Haass won the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.33 seconds, the best time so far in his young collegiate career. Wyatt Wilson (New Braunfels/New Braunfels), last week's SCAC Track Athlete of the Week, would outpace last year's 100m champion, teammate Elijah Jefferson (San Antonio/Construction Careers Academy), to win the 100m dash with a time of 10.69 seconds. Wilson's time is the fourth fastest in SCAC Championship history. Texas Lutheran dominated the 100 meter dash, with Bulldogs sweeping the top three podium positions. Jefferson had to settle for silver in the 100 with a finishing time of 10.72. Freshman Weston Guzman (McAllen/McAllen) completed the 1-2-3 Bulldog sweep with a bronze medal finish of 10.93. The all-SCAC sweep by TLU represented just the fourth time that has happened in the event in conference meet history, with the last occurance produced by TLU at the 2017 championships.

The record-setting day continued with Gerrit Twitero (McQueeney/Seguin) winning the high jump with a school record mark of 2.05m to go back-to-back after winning the event with a 1.97m mark last season. The mark is the second highest in SCAC Championship history, only trailing Rhodes College's Tim Barkley (2.10m, 1999). The 2.05m mark moves Twitero into fifth place in Division-III a month ahead of the NCAA National Championships in Rochester, New York.

Freshman Dalon Harris (Garland/Lakeview Centennial) continued Texas Lutheran's near decade of dominance in the shot put with a winning toss of 15.09 meters (49' 6"). He is the eighth straight TLU man to win the event, which along with the 200 meters, is the longest current win streak by any institution in any event on the men's side. Sophomore Riley Denman (Pearland/Pearland) finished second with a throw of 13.36 meters (43' 10"). Chase Cook (Austin/McNeil) and Denman would finish second (42.52m) and third (40.28m) respectively in the discus throw.

The Texas Lutheran 4x400m relay team comprised of Justin Freeney (Montgomery/Lake Creek), Luis Green (Monterrey, Mexico/Smithson Valley), Kaleb Brachett (Beaumont/West Brook), and Bryce Powell-Chimene (Dayton/Dayton) finished second in the event with a time of 3:20.57 to close the championships.

Full Results: https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/mtrack-out/2022-23/files/scac_final_results.pdf

Coach Holland's Comments: "Wow! We really got out there and scratched and eked out whatever points we could all weekend long. Just some incredible "rise-to-the-occasion" performances throughout!

As usual, the throwers were clutch for both genders. When the going gets tough - THE THROWERS START THROWING! They came through big time. Their energy is incredible at Conference!

We're traditionally strong in the sprints/hurdles and this year was no exception. The 100 was great on both sides. Our jumps did well, including a new outdoor school record in the high jump. I'm not gonna name names because there were so many great performances!

The weather was awful and didn't give us much of a chance for fast times with the strong cold crosswind blasting the competitors. Even so, everyone from the 5K runners in the early morning to the 4x400 teams in the late afternoon put forth everything they had to try to complete their best and score. Even with the bad weather, there were still PRs and season bests. You can't ask for more than that of anyone!

We ALWAYS aim to win and yes, we fell short, but not for lack of effort. I'm so proud of how everyone competed."

The Bulldogs will compete intermittently over the course of the next month as they prepare for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Polisseni Track and Field Complex in Rochester, New York, May 25-27, starting with the ACU Twilight hosted by Abilene Christian University on Thursday, April 27. 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.