North Texas Classic Results (.pdf)

DENTON – All Austin Slone wanted was a clean jump. He got that and more to win the triple jump at the North Texas Spring Classic at Fouts Field Saturday. Slone (triple jump) and Wade Goode (discus) posted the best marks in the country in their respective events and joined Jayda Spencer (discus) as three Angelo State student-athletes who bettered their NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks against a mostly NCAA Division I field. Isidro Garcia also walked away from the meet as an event winners in the 400-meter dash.

Slone scratched on five of six attempts in the long jump, but then leaped farther than any other Division II athlete this season with a personal-best of 50'4.5” on his very first attempt. The mark was nearly a foot and a half longer than his previous provisional mark this season and the sophomore from Friendswood, Texas, hit two more marks that would have bested any Division II athlete before the end of his series.

“When I was on the runway, all I could think about was getting a legal mark,” Slone said. “It felt great. I looked over at coach and told him what my mark was and he started fist pumping. I'm excited. I felt it was about time – I came within one centimeter of last year's personal-best at Kingsville last weekend and we've been working on technique. I'm on a 14-step run right now, but by the time it's all said and done this season I'll be on a 16-step run which will hopefully lead to more speed and distance.”

Goode also reached a personal best with a toss of 174'7” to place fourth in the discus behind a pair of student-athletes from the University of Oklahoma and a former University of Arizona thrower. He hit the mark on his third attempt and bettered his previous provisional qualifying throw by nearly 11 feet. Goode's throw is the best in Division II this season by nearly two feet.

“That was a big throw today for him,” Angelo State head coach James Reid said. “That should help boost his confidence. He's been throwing great in practice and was able to get a big throw in at a meet. That's more than what got him in to nationals last year, but we're looking for an auto mark. We're excited for him.”
Jayda Spencer hit a provisional mark in the discus with a season-best throw of 147'5” which was also the third-best throw in Division II this season. She finished fifth in the event and was one of four Rambelles among the top six, with her second-place throw of 119'2” in the javelin.

Angelo State's field athletes continued to post strong marks as they did a week ago at the Cactus Cup in Kingsville. Jacob McDonald hit a season-best mark in the pole vault at 15'7” to finish second overall and Tyler Orlando notched a season-best throw in the javelin to place third at 193'3”. For the first time in six meets, Trevor Rogers didn't win the long jump but he did finish second and his leap of 24'8.25” is second only to his own season-best mark among Lone Star Conference athletes and would've been the third-best jump in Division II this season if the wind wasn't so strong. Marks are not counted as qualifiers if the wind is above four miles per hour for the given attempt or race.

Garcia was the only event winner on the track for Angelo State despite several strong performances. He claimed the men's 400-meter title when he won the second heat in 48.01 seconds.
“We had a good meet across the board,” Reid said. “We had several PRs on the track by a couple of sprinters, it was just a good meet for us all around. We kind of got our legs under us last week at Kingsville after spring break. I told the kids after the meet today, this is indicative that we're headed in the right direction.”

The Rams and Rambelles will continue competition next weekend at the Bobby Lane Invitational in Arlington or the Texas Tech Open in Lubbock, both on Saturday, April 2.

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