Sports
Tarleton State Track and Field travels to SMU Invite for regular season finale
Story Links Live Results Meet Schedule STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Track and Field will close their regular season with its sixth outdoor meet of the season on Saturday at the SMU Invite at the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium. […]
STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Track and Field will close their regular season with its sixth outdoor meet of the season on Saturday at the SMU Invite at the Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium.
The SMU Invite will be a one-day meet for the Texans to make their final pushes to get their best marks in ahead of the conference championships. The meet will start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning with the men’s and women’s 5000-meter runs. Then, the field events will take the main stage with javelin, hammer throw and high jump all scheduled to start at the top of the hour. The meet will mark the first home meet for the Mustangs since 1998.
The Texans will be competing in an 11-team field. Also joining the Texans in Dallas are: Oklahoma State, SMU, Missouri State (women only), Arkansas-Little Rock, Prairie View A&M, University of Texas at Dallas, North Texas at Dallas, Texas Wesleyan, Mississippi Valley State, Huston-Tillotson and Paul Quinn College.
A week after entering the Top 25 on the men’s side for the first time in program history, the Texan men improved their ranking to number 20 the following week. Tarleton State became the first WAC program since 2022 to reach the top 25 and now is the only program since the Texans joined the conference in 2020 to be ranked in the top 25 in back-to-back weeks. Tarleton is the highest ranked men’s program in the WAC currently, with California Baptist the next highest-ranked team at 49th.
Head coach Bobby Carter is in his first year as a collegiate head coach and his first season with the Texan program. Carter was hired on June 20, 2024 when he started building the foundation for this elite program. Carter is the only head coach in the top 25 that is in his first year as a collegiate head coach or in his first year with the program, a remarkable achievement.
The Texans are fueled to their top 25 ranking by one of the best jump squads in the nation. Tarleton State has three men ranked within the top six in the NCAA in either the long or triple jump. As an event group, the Texan long jump squad is the third best in the nation. The duo of Lokesh Sathyanathan and Sir Jonathan Sims lead the long jump squad. Sathyanathan notched an 8.14-meter leap two weeks ago to become the nation’s leader in the event. Sims ranks sixth in the country with a best jump of 7.94 meters also coming at the Michael Johnson Invitational. Sims also moved himself up the triple jump leaderboards climbing to 12th in the nation. The Arizona transfer notched a 15.99-meter leap to claim second at the Joe Gillespie Invitational.
The Texans earned a trio of WAC weekly awards after their performances at the Joe Gillespie Invitational. After setting new school and facility records in the triple jump at the Joe Gillespie Invitational this weekend, Gabriele Tosti earned his second outdoor men’s field athlete of the week honor. He ranks third in the NCAA in the triple jump. His new personal best of 16.39 meters also leads the WAC and ranks third in the NCAA West Region. Ca’terrin Cox earned his first men’s track athlete of the week honor after turning the top qualifying time in the 110 hurdles at the Joe Gillespie Invitational. Cox ranks fourth in the WAC and 45th in the West region with his season best time of 13.94 seconds.
Lauren Roy was the third Texan to claim a weekly honor. She earned the women’s track athlete of the week after becoming the first Texan in program history and the first woman in the WAC this season to run a sub-23 second 200 meters. Roy won the Joe Gillispie Invitational in 22.85 seconds and leads the WAC this season. The senior also set the Northern Ireland national record for the second time this year. She ranks ninth in the NCAA West Region and 16th in all of the NCAA.
In total the Texans have seven athletes totaling eight top 20 event rankings in the nation. Along with Sims, tosti and Sathyanathan, Victoria Cameron, Prestina Ochonogor and the Women’s 4×100 relay team rank among the best in the nation. Cameron currently leads the WAC and ranks eighth in the country in the 100 meters. Her best time of 11.09 seconds came at the Texas Relays. Ochonogor earned silver at the Texas Relays where she jumped 6.48 meters to post the 12th best leap in the nation. The freshman from Nigeria finished 12th at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Texan women’s 4×100 meter relay team ranks 20th in the nation with their best run of the season coming at the Michael Johnson Invitational. The squad ran in 43.70 seconds to set the new school record.
Tarleton State will have two weeks of rest before heading to the 2025 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Arlington, Texas. The Texans will look to post their best finishes in program history after posting their best team finishes at the indoor championships earlier this year.