Men's Track & Field | 3/21/2022 10:33:00 AM

PUEBLO, Colo. - The Oklahoma Panhandle State men's and women's track and field team opened up their season at Colorado State University-Pueblo after being reinstated just this year.

Head Coach Jessi James was proud of her athletes' performance in their first meet of the 2022 season. "Over all it was definitely a learning experience for us all.  Most of the athletes have never run in a venue as large as CSU Pueblo and it was a bit intimidating.  We competed against 8-10 Division II schools and learned a lot of lessons.   We have to remember we are a brand new program and there are going to be some learning curves along the way."

Junior Quentin Fankhouser and sophomore Xavier Starks would be the first to compete for the Aggies. Starting their first meet off in the javelin throw. Starks and Fankhouser would place back-to-back at seventh and eight for the javelin throw. Starks finished with a best throw of 36.5m and Fankhouser with 34.28m. 

Sophomore Zoe Salazar would get the Aggies women started on Friday. Placing second overall in the javelin throw. Waiting until her last throw of 34.76m to place. 

Quentin Fankhouser would also compete in the men's discus throw. Placing 16th with a 38.14m throw.

Saturday would bring out the runners for the Aggies. The long-distance duo of freshman Carlos Flores and sophomore Justin Duran kicked off the day in the men's 5,000-meter run. Duran would finish with a 17:08:95 time and Flores at 18:07:78. 

The women's 1,500m run would be next for the Aggies. Bonita Gray placed 26th overall with a 5:21:05 time. 

Quentin Fankhouser would place 9th for the Aggies as their only runner in the men's 110-meter hurdles. Finishing with a 21:45 time.

The next event of the meet would be the 400m dash for both the women and the men. Four Aggies competed in the event. For the women, Azucena Carillo placed the highest among the Aggies (16th)with a 1:01:46. Jamiah Clay finished 19th (1:03:05) and Zoe Salazar 23rd (1:13:51). Clay Lewis would bring another top-10 finish for the Aggies in the men's 400. Finishing 10th with a 52:13 time. 

Willie McCline would be the lone Aggie competing in both the men's 100 meters and 200-meter dashes. Running an 11:20 time (10th) for the 100 meters and 23;27 time (12th) for the 200 meters. 

The 800-meter run would be next for the Aggies. Abbey Goode placed 34th with a 2:58:07 time. The men would have three runners for the event. Arturo Vallejo would be the first Aggie to finish with a 2:04:23 time, followed by Traegan Flannagan at 2:06:70 and Xavier Starks at 2:14:52.

The last event of the meet for the Aggies was the 4x400m relay. The women's relay team of Jamiah Clay, Bonita Gray, Patti Gray, and Azucena Carillo placed 5th overall. Finishing with a 4:17:44 time. The men's relay team of Clay Lewis, Arturo Lozano, Quentin Fankhouser, and Colby Perez would take 4th place