The Texas A&M-Commerce track and field team showed a strong presence Thursday, March 8, at the Tarleton State Invitational held in Stephenville.
The Lions had 20 top-5 finishes at the meet, with the men and women splitting that total down the middle with 10 a piece.
“Our team improved their marks and timings in many areas, congratulations to everyone,” said interim track head coach Rich Lawrence.
The men were led by senior Larry Gilbert, who finished 2nd in both the shot put and discus events, with distances of 170’2.75″ and 153’7.5″, respectively.
After being sick all week, Kyle Thompson ran the 110 hurdles, and finished 2nd with a time of 14.95 seconds, which is only .25 seconds shy of provisionally qualifying in the event. Thompson also achieved a 2nd place finish in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 2 inches.
Robert Reed ran both the 1500-meter run, and the 5000-meter run. Reed ran the 1500 in 4 minutes, 8.82 seconds, which was good for a 2nd place finish.
Leslie White participated in both the javelin and high jump field events, with a 2nd place finish in both events. In the javelin event, he threw 170 feet, 2.75 inches, and cleared 6 feet, 4 inches in the high jump event.
On the women’s side, Niki Williams led the Lions, with a time of 10 minutes, 57.64 seconds, which gave her a 1st place finish in the 3,000 meter run, and winning the event. She also ran in the 1500 meter run, and finished in 4th place, with a time of 5 minutes, 7.20 seconds.
In the field events, Rachel Redding had a strong performance in both the Hammer and Discus events. The Tarleton meet was the first meet this season that Redding has thrown in the Hammer event, and in doing so, she finished in 3rd place, with a distance of 127 feet, 11.5 inches.
In the discus event, Redding improved her distance by nearly 7 feet. She threw 117 feet, 6.5 inches at the Tarleton Invitational, and 110 feet, 7 inches at the Trinity Invitational the previous weekend. Her mark of 117’6.5″ helped her to a 5th place finish in the discus event.
Britney Fisher joined Redding in the top-5 finishes in the field events, with a 3rd place finish in the discus event, at a distance of 121 feet, 2 inches. She also finished in 5th place in the shot put event, with a distance of 33 feet, 7.25 inches.
Next up for the Lions, is the Dr. Pepper/Baylor Invitational in Waco on March 24th, and after the Baylor Invitational, the Lions finish out the month of March with a meet on March 31st, at the UTA Invitational in Arlington.