May 12th, 2010
Bobcats aim for conference track meet

Texas State’s Dan Schmidt has qualified for three events in the Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships to be contested this weekend in Arlington. Texas State sports information photo.

STAFF REPORT

The Texas State track and field teams are headed to the postseason this weekend, when they compete in the Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Texas-Arlington (UTA) Friday through Sunday.

The Texas State women’s team has finished either first or second at the meet in each of the last ten years.  look to continue a strong championship history this weekend. The Bobcats return four competitors who combined for five championships at last year’s meet.

The Bobcat women finished second in the meet last year, while the men finished sixth.

Three-time conference high jump champion Valerie Hancock will look to be the league’s first four-time winner. Hancock also is the defending champion in the heptathlon.

Other defending vitalists for Texas State ate Asiya Iskakova in the triple jump, Katy Hanie in the discus and Jennifer Matthews in the pole vault. Texas State athletes have won the triple jump for four years straight, the pole vault for two consecutive years and the discus for three out of the past four years.

The men’s team is defending no titles, but features contenders in several of this year’s events. William Taudien is ranked fifth in the conference in the 800 meters, entering the championships with a season-best time of 1:52.34. Gil Sheleg has a season-best time of 52.12 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles for the second fastest time in the league.

Logan Cunningham and Landon Ferguson have the second and fourth best vaults in the conference this season. Each of the freshmen have vaulted past 16-feet this season to position themselves in the top five before this weekend.

Senior Dan Schmidt will participate in his final outdoor championship, qualifying in the shot put, hammer and discus throws. Schmidt was named the Southland Conference men’s track and field athlete of the week this week after recording two top ten finishes last weekend at the Sooner Invitational in Norman, OK. Schmidt reached eighth in the discuss with a throw of 162 feet, three inches, and finished fifth in the hammer throw at 169 feet.