Siloam Springs, Ark. – After a day full of rain and storms, the Texas Wesleyan men’s and women’s track and field teams stormed their way to the team titles on Saturday at the 2024 Sooner Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships held at Glenn W. Black Stadium in Siloam Springs, Ark. The is the second consecutive title for the Rams men’s squad while the women claimed their first conference crown.
The Rams women’s team scored 197 points to take the title while Oklahoma City earned the second slot with 169 points with John Brown placing third with 129 points.
Texas Wesleyan’s men’s squad finished the day with 288 points while Oklahoma City grabbed 174 points and SAGU earned the third spot with 86 points.
Due to weather, the multi-events were not contested this weekend and they will take place at the Texas Wesleyan Last Chance meet in two weeks. The points from those two events will be added to the final team scores once that event has taken place.
Texas Wesleyan Head Coach Randy Dalzell was named the Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Rams to both titles. This is the second straight season that Dalzell has earned the men’s honor.
Jaelynn Williams of Texas Wesleyan and Montrell Blacknall of Southwestern Assemblies of God were named the Most Outstanding Athletes during the two-day meet that featured many weather-related delays during Friday’s events.
Williams scored the most points in the women’s competition for the second straight year with 36 points as she won the 100-meter Dash in a time of 11.64 and then hit an NAIA “A” Standard time of 24.14 in winning the 200-meter. Williams then won the long jump with an “A” Standard mark of 5.74 meters as she also placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 10.89 meters. Williams also joined the Rams’ 4x100 meter relay team in winning the event in a “B” Standard time of 47.52 and finished her day by helping the Texas Wesleyan 4x400 relay team to a second-place finish.
Blacknall earned the men’s highest honor for the second consecutive season in helping the Lions to a third-place finish in the team race with 35 points. Blacknall opened his day by earning fifth place in the 110-meter high hurdles in an “A” Standard time of 15.14 while aiding the SAGU 4x100 meter relay team to a fifth-place finish with a time of 43.59. Blacknall then turned his attention to the field events as he won the pole vault with an “A” Standard mark of 4.00 meters while getting another “A” Standard in placing fifth in the long jump with a leap of 6.58 meters. Blacknall continued his dominance in the field events with a second-place finish in the high jump with a jump of 1.95 meters and then added a fourth-place finish in the shot put and a fifth-place mark in the Javelin.
All-Conference Honors for all of the events completed this weekend will be announced Tuesday, April 30 at 3 p.m.