ABILENE—The South Plains College track and field teams competed in the ACU Wildcat Open on Thursday on the campus of Abilene Christian University in their first of two meets remaining before nationals on May 18-20 in Kansas.

The Texans and Lady Texans entered Thursday with a combined 73 national qualifying marks, each ranked inside the top five in the latest USTFCCCA national polls.

The Texans placed three runners inside the top five in the men's 110 hurdles as Mason Weh took second with a time of 13.94, followed by William Watson and Patrick Johnson who placed third and fourth with their times of 14.01 and 14.55, respectively.

The Texans' Rayan Holmes and Montel Hood finished three-four in the men's 200 meters as Holmes ran a 21.47 while Hood posted a time of 21.86. Long jump specialist Laquan Nairn, who entered Thursday with the top mark in the country after soaring 25' 8.25" at the Texas Relays, set a new personal and national best with a jump of 26' 1.75" to take first overall. Felicia Frimpong would go on to place third in the women's long jump with a mark of 18' 1.75".

Felix Kosgei and Omero Rodriguez continue to set the pace in the men's 1500 meters as the duo finished one-two on Thursday. Kosgei ran a 4:04.64 followed by Rodriguez' final time of 4:07.71. Robert Downs Jr. posted a time of 49.22 in the men's 400-meter dash to take fifth for the Texans, while Latriceia Smith used a time of 56.41 to take second in the women's 400 meters. Seselia Dala finished just three seconds off the leader to take third in the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:21.35, while Myles Scott ran a 2:03.26 in the men's 800 meters to take eighth.

Jordan Atkinson used a time of 10.64 in the men's 100-meter dash to earn the freshman from Amarillo a sixth place finish. Safia Bright posted an 11.45 in the women's 100-meter dash to take first while Joi Gill ran a 12.02 to earn a third place finish. Bright would then earn her second first top finish in the women's 200-meter dash crossing the line at 24.10.

In the women's 5000 meter run, Caitlyn Mercer posted a final mark of 20:43.22 to take second, while Kosgei and Omero once again took the top two spots in the men's 5000 meters with their final times of 15:57.61 and 16:33.10, respectively. In the men's high jump, DeVaughn Coleman cleared 6' 4.75" to take sixth for South Plains.

The Texans' 4x400 relay team made up of Junior Charles, Montel Hood, Holmes and Okeen Williams used a time of 3:11.63 to take the top position. The Lady Texans wouldn't be outdone as Agnes Abrocquah, Mauricia Prieto, Latriceia Smith and Natassha McDonald earned a first place nod with their time of 3:43.02. The Lady Texans continued to roll as Poro Gahekave and Leslie Romero finished first and second in the women's 3000-meter steeplechase with times of 11:51.42 and 12:00.04.

Nicholas Rotich and Connor Hughes would wrap things up for South Plains in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase as Rotich earned the top spot with a time of 9:35.44 while Hughes placed third with a time of 10:32.97.