Freshman Wins Individual Title at Texas Relays
4/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
April 2, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin men and women's track and field team concluded a successful opening day of competition at the Texas Relays Wednesday night. Freshman Julian Acuna opened the Texas Relays by winning the 10,000-meter run. He clocked a time of 31:23.10. Acuna's mark is the fastest 10,000-meter time in the Southland Conference this year. Classmate Marc Farris also had a solid outing in his first-career 10,000-meters race, finishing sixth with a time of 32:37.07.
"Julian ran a very composed race today," said SFA distance coach Alex Gibby. "It wasn't ideal weather conditions but he ran well. He stayed in the pack until about 2,000 meters remaining and then he made his move. I thought that he made it too early but once he took the lead he really poured it on. He got out in front and really slammed the door on the rest of the field in the final 2,000 meters of the race. I thought he and Marc ran very well for their first time in the 10,000 meters."
The heptathlon and decathlon got underway Wednesday afternoon as well. Senior Tracy Schupp is sixth after the first day of competition (2,954 points) while sophomore Lindsey Bryson is 12th overall with 2,631 points. Schupp recorded a third-place finish in the 200-meter dash with her time of 25.44. She followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the shot put with her toss of 36-4.00. Junior Justin Connell heads into the final day of the decathlon in 15th place with 3,492 points.
"I'm pleased with all three efforts today," said multi-events coach Ron McCown. "Tracy is sixth overall in a very tough field. She is 85 points ahead of her conference-best mark of 4,709 points, which she set last week. I think all three athletes have set themselves up for a strong finish. The second day of competition is usually their best."
The SFA track and field team will return to the track for the second day of competition at the Texas Relays Thursday. The meet will begin with the final round of the decathlon beginning at 11 a.m. The heptathlon will get started at noon.
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