Two silver medals, two school records highlight Texans first day at 2025 WAC Outdoor Championships

Tayler Wessely was the first Texan to medal, earning silver in the hammer throw. On her very first throw of the competition, Wessely broke the school record she set at the Michael Johnson Invitational last month. Her first toss of 54.57 meters broke her previous best by 1.36 meters. All three of her marks were past her previous personal best heading into the meet. Wessely will compete in the women's shot put on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Angel Gomez scored the first points of the meet for the Texan men with a silver medal finish in the 10K. Gomez found himself in third for the majority of the race before an impressive close in the final three laps to overtake the ACU runner for second place. Gomez clocked in at 30:50.46, less than 20 seconds behind the WAC Champion, Mo Guled. The senior earned his first WAC medal after finishing in 12^th in the 10K last year.

Paige Elliott earned Second Team All-WAC with a seventh-place performance in the women's pole vault. Elliott was the only other Texan to earn a podium finish on the first day of competition. The junior cleared a pair of heights with her best clearance at 3.52 meters. She was one of six vaulters to have a best height of 3.52 meters. She claimed seventh, the second highest of the group as her cleared her first attempt at 3.52 meters and only recorded one miss to lead the tiebreakers. Hannah Cade and Sage Barmettler also posted a best height of 3.52 and placed 10^th and 11^th, respectively.

With two of 21 events scored on the men's side, the Texan men are fifth with eight total points, Utah Valley is the leader after day one with 23 points. After four events scored on the women's side, the Purple and White are in sixth with 10 points. Utah Valley is out to an early lead with 65 points.

In the 200-meter prelims, Victoria Cameron set yet another school record. The Stephenville native, coasted in to the finish to clock in at 23.04 seconds. She now owns the new school record and posted the best qualifying time in the event. Cameron notched the 25^th best time in the NCAA in the event this season.

After the first four events of the heptathlon, Malak Rashwan ranks second among the field. Rashwan finished second in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.18 seconds in the first event of the day. She also posted a second-place finish in the final event of the day, the 200 in 24.74 seconds to score 911 points. She enters the final day of the competition on Friday with 3,045 points, just 37 points behind the current leader. Rashwan will compete in the long jump, javelin and 800 meters in the final three events.

Sage Lancaster qualified for the 1500 finals with a 10^th place finish in the prelims. She clocked in the at 4:39.10. She will compete for a chance to score points for the squad needing a top eight finish in the finals on Saturday at 4:20 p.m.

David Mvundura was the top qualifier in the 200. He clocked in at 20.88 seconds to win his heat and now ranks fourth in school history. He is one of five Texans to post wind-legal times under 21 seconds in program history. The senior will be searching for his first WAC Championship in the 200-meter finals at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The Texan women occupied four of the top five spots in the 200 meters heading into Saturday's final. Along with Cameron in the top spot, Lauren Roy and Hanna Dudley close out the top three overall. Roy clocked in at 23.52 seconds and Hanna Dudley's 23.74 performance won herself her heat. Amandine Estival posted the fifth-best time in the prelims crossing in 23.85 seconds. The quartet will look to sweep the podium at 6:10 p.m. on Saturday.

A trio of Texan men punched their ticket for the finals of the 400-meter hurdles. Braylon Hoffman notched the third-fastest time of the prelims and won his heat in 53.87 seconds. Omar Mahmoud set a new personal best crossing in 53.76 seconds to post the fifth best time heading into the finals. Noah Newman claimed the seventh slot for the finals with a 54.27-second performance. The trio will compete in the finals slated for Saturday at 5:40 p.m.

Taylor McFarland posted the top qualifying time in the women's 400-meter hurdles. The junior set a new personal best clocking in at 1:00.91 closing in the final 30 meters to win her heat and overtake the leader for most the race. McFarland will compete for a title in the 400-meters on Saturday at 5:50 p.m.

The Texans will compete in the second day of competition on Friday. Eight WAC Champions will be crowned including the heptathlon, 3000-meter steeplechases, both long jumps and both shot puts. The track events will be streamed starting at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.