Parchman Breaks School Record, UNT Crowns Three Champions at Washburn Open

TOPEKA, Kan. – Senior thrower Jake Parchman broke his own school record in the weight throw, and the UNT track & field team captured 19 top-five finishes at the Washburn Open Friday and Saturday in Topeka, Kansas.

"I was very proud of the entire group this weekend," head coach Doug Marshall said. "They definitely came to compete this weekend. Every event group on the team improved this weekend. We have been challenging the team to step up and compete as a team and they definitely did that. Now we must ride this wave and continue to improve going into Tech next weekend."

After opening this season with a record mark of 19.30 meters, Parchman improved that in a runner-up finish on Friday. He launched his second attempt 19.54 meters before topping that on his third attempt of 20.12 meters, marking the best throw of his career and the third-longest mark in the American conference this season.

Even with Parchman's performance, Jasmyn Reece had arguably the best meet of anyone competing at the event. The sophomore set personal bests in the 60 meters, long jump and triple jump. She placed third in the 60 meters with a time of 7.58, sixth in the triple jump at 12.05 meters and won the long jump with a mark of 5.85 meters.

Reece was one of three champions for North Texas over the two-day meet. Kendahl Tucker won the 400 meters, clocking a 55.15 that is her best mark of the season and a meet record. Nakiya Marshall also claimed gold in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.72, while Basia Mitchell and Reah DeGraffenried placed second and sixth in the event, respectively.

Several more Mean Green athletes recorded personal bests over the weekend, including six women doing so in the 200 meters led by Deja Shaw-Huckaby who finished second (24.20), Janai Williams in fourth (24.42) and Tucker in eighth (24.66). Degraffenried, C'Nai Childress and Leeaira Williams also clocked personal bests in the 200 on Friday.

Shortly after the 200 meters concluded, three more Mean Green ladies clocked personal bests in the 5,000 meters. Tiblets Abreha ran an 18:36.34 for a sixth-place finish, while freshman Brenna Zerby finished ninth with a time of 19:23.36 and Marisa Jacober crossed the line in 19:33.97.

In the field events, Rayona Runnels and Kennedy Adams recorded top-10 finishes behind Reece in the women's long jump. Emma Tindall set a personal best in the pole vault, clearing 3.85 meters, while Dionna James placed second in the women's shot put. Allison Stigarll placed third in the weight throw with a throw of 17.74 meters that was the best of her career.

True freshman Armando Acevedo made his collegiate debut in the high jump and earned a runner-up finish soaring to a mark of 2.10 meters. Fellow freshman Jake Dorrell cleared 4.80 meters to place third in the pole vault.

UNT will wrap up the regular season portion of the indoor season next weekend in Lubbock, Texas at the Jarvis Scott Open hosted by Texas Tech. The Mean Green will then travel to Birmingham for the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships Feb. 23-24.

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Parchman Breaks School Record, UNT Crowns Three Champions at Washburn Open

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Players Mentioned

Tiblets Abreha

Armando Acevedo

Kennedy Adams

C'Nai Childress

Reah DeGraffenried

Jake Dorrell

Marisa Jacober

Dionna James

Nakiya Marshall

Basia Mitchell

Jake Parchman

Jasmyn Reece

Rayona Runnels

Deja Shaw-Huckaby

Allison Stigarll

Emma Tindall

Kendahl Tucker

Janai Williams

Brenna Zerby

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