Meet Results / WT Performance Chart 
 
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ALLENDALE, Mich. – Another successful year is now in the books for West Texas A&M track & field as the Buffs and Lady Buffs both achieved top-20 team finishes this weekend in the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship. The Lady Buffs placed 20^th overall, their best outdoor team finish in program history, while the Buffs ended the meet finishing tied for 19^th overall. WT would also end up with 14 All-Americans in the three-day competition, including 10 who earned First-Team recognition and four being tabbed Second-Team by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
 
"I'm proud of how some of our kids stepped up today," noted head coach Darren Flowers. "I knew there would be some opportunities to score big points and we took advantage of those opportunities for the most part. We did leave some points on the table and we could have finished higher but that's part of the competition and why we compete. We just need to keep taking steps in the right direction as a program."
 
The meet was held for the second-consecutive season on the campus of Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich. The Buffs, placing 19^th, accumulated 15 points for their second-highest national finish in outdoor competition in program history. The Lady Buffs would finish with 14 points to also crack the top-20 for a program-first. WT sent an all-time program-high 24 total athletes to compete in the championship, setting team-highs for both the men and women with 12 athletes each, ranking in the top-five of all schools in the championship in terms of participants.
 
Additionally, three school records were set, including one broken twice at the championship. The Buffs would also have a program first as junior Lorenzo Johnson placed second in the 110m hurdles, making him the first National Runner-Up in WT men's track & field history.
 
"It feels great to come out here and perform like this," said Johnson. "I've prepared for this for so long and it's funny how you can work all year for a race that is so short. I was trying to be the first athlete from WT to get a national championship but this is just going to give me more motivation to reach for it next year. I'm going to come out with even more fire next season to achieve that. But it means a lot for me to come out here and get second. I see it as a big accomplishment for myself and this program."
 
All the First-Team All-Americans earned their recognition on Saturday, the final day of the Championship. First-Team honors go those athletes finishing in the top-eight of their respective events, while Second-Team recognition goes to those finishing ninth-12^th. For the Buffs, all of the team points came in the hurdles events. Johnson would pick up the first eight points as he finished second in the 110mH event, breaking his own school record with a time of 13.69, just .01 second behind GVSU's National Champion. Senior Arnau Erta would follow in sixth place, repeating as an All-American in the event after finishing seventh in 2014.
 
Junior Damien Bourguin would also score with a top-eight finish in the 400mH, finishing fifth with a time of 52.16. Then in the lone field event of the day for the men, junior Zach Weatherly placed 10^th in shot put, throwing 17.21m to earn Second-Team recognition.
 
For the women, the first to get the Lady Buffs on the score sheet was sophomore Holly Cunigan who earned First-Team honors in shot put, throwing 14.92m to place eighth and improve on her ninth place indoor finish earlier this season. Also in the field was the triple jump competition where sophomore Malika Ouedraogo earned Second-Team distinction with a 10^th place finish while freshman Marion Gatignol placed 18^th.
 
The Lady Buffs opened up strong on the track Saturday as well as the 4x100m relay team raced to a third place finish with two athletes who earned All-America honors in the event two years ago. The squad of juniors Bri Leeper, Libby Strickland, and Shanice Cameron and sophomore Jasmine Pitts would do so with a strong time of 45.79 to reach the podium.
 
Junior Mireia Guarner made an appearance in two events on the final day. She picked up First-Team honors in the 1500m by finishing eighth, breaking her school record for the second time in three days with a 4:26.92. Finishing off the day, she placed 14^th in the 5000m with a time of 17:15.67. Finally, senior Sharon Kwarula would roll to a third place finish in the 400mH, improving on her fifth place finish in 2014, to pick up First-Team honors again by running a 58.40 to break her school record.
 
DAY TWO RECAP (FRIDAY)
 
The West Texas A&M No. 10 women's and No. 14 men's track & field teams completed day two of the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship on Friday night. The Buff and Lady Buff hurdlers put themselves in great position through the opening two days to score some big points on Saturday while two athletes were tabbed USTFCCCA Second-Team All-America with their performances on Friday. In all, 11 athletes competed in seven separate events on the day.
 
Earning All-America honors on day two were senior Sharon Kwarula and freshman Duke Kicinski, who earned Second-Team distinction by finishing between ninth-12^th place in their respective events. Kicinski did so in the men's discus competition where he hit a huge PR with a 54.09m throw, putting him in ninth place after coming in as the nation's 15^th seed. Kwarula followed up by placing 11^th in the women's 100m hurdles competition, which ran prelims on Friday, only taking the top-nine to tomorrow's finals.
 
The Buff hurdlers added two more qualifiers for Saturday's finals, putting WT's total at four between the 400mH and 110mH events. Junior Lorenzo Johnson led the way after topping his heat with a time of 13.81. Senior Arnau Erta followed by getting an automatic qualifier as well, finishing second in his heat with a time of 14.09.
 
Two other field events went final for WT on Friday. Junior Benoit Nadin would finish 18^th in the men's triple jump competition with a 14.54m jump while junior Libby Strickland tied for 17^th in women's high jump after clearing 1.60m.
 
The Lady Buffs had two qualifiers in the 200m prelims. Both juniors Shanice Cameron and Strickland would compete, finishing 17^th and 18^th, respectively, in the event. In the final event of the evening, after an extremely lengthy delay on the track, the women's 4x400m relay team, consisting of Strickland, senior Rhemecka Graham, junior Alba Casanovas, and freshman Sommer Wilder, finished 17^th overall with a time of 3:48.72.
 
DAY ONE RECAP (THURSDAY)
 
The Buffs and Lady Buffs opened up competition on Thursday in the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship. The teams competed in eight total events featuring 14 athletes. Junior Mireia Guarner highlighted the evening as she topped her own school record time in the 1500m, joining six of her fellow teammates who picked up qualifying times for their respective event finals later this weekend.
 
The Lady Buffs kicked off the competition strong on Thursday, starting with an impressive showing in the 4x100m relay. The team of sophomore Jasmine Pitts along with juniors Bri Leeper, Libby Strickland, and Shanice Cameron, finished second in heat two to earn the automatic qualifier. The 46.05 time ranks third overall and will send the Lady Buffs on to Saturday afternoon's finals. For the men, the team of juniors Fabian Mueller and Lorenzo Johnson and seniors Jerell Banks and Tommy Curry would finish 13^th overall in the nation with a time of 41.35.
 
Guarner would follow suit for the women by qualifying for the 1500m finals. She would break her own record with a time of 4:28.72, finishing third in the heat, as well as overall, to earn the automatic qualifier for the finals. On the men's side of the race, senior Baptiste Moreu would not finish.
 
In the lone sprint event for WT on the opening day of the championship, Cameron would return to the track as she placed 19^th overall in the 100m, running an 11.85 time. Competing in WT's first final event of the meet, as well as the first field event, was junior Paul Alongo. He would finish tied for 13^th overall with a 7.33m jump.
 
Capping off the first day of competition was the 400m hurdles events which proved well for both the men and women. Senior Sharon Kwarula led the pack on the women's side as she finished first overall in the prelims with a time of 59.97, automatically qualifying her for the finals. Junior Alba Casanovas would finish 17^th overall in the country with a time of 1:02.29. For the men, junior Damien Bourguin grabbed a fourth place overall finish in the prelims and finished second in his heat to also earn a bid to the finals.
 
SCORING: In the championship meet regardless of the number of teams, official team scores shall be kept and recorded as follows: (8 scoring) Individual Events: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, Relay Events: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. All-American honors are presented by the USTFCCCA with First-Team recognition going to individuals and relay team members who finish in the top-eight of their respective events while Second-Team distinction is given to those finishing in ninth-12^th place.
 
LEEPER WINS SECOND-STRAIGHT NCAA ELITE 89 AWARD: Bri Leeper, a junior at WT, is once again the recipient of the Elite 89 award for the 2015 NCAA Division II Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Championship. This marks the second-consecutive outdoor season in which Leeper has won the award and it is the third award for the WT women's track & field/cross country program in the previous two years, taking half of the total six awarded in that span.
 
Leeper, majoring in Mass Communications-Broadcasting with a minor in Spanish, still carries a perfect 4.00 GPA with 104 total credit hours as only a junior. Leeper was presented with the award during the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Social on Wednesday evening.
 
With Leeper's award on Wednesday, the WT women's track & field/cross country program has taken three out the previous six national awards for the 2013-14/2014-15 seasons. Senior Emma Love was the female recipient during the 2013 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in Spokane, Wash. Leeper now becomes the first WT athlete to win two Elite 89 awards in school history.