The Texas A&M University-Commerce track teams traveled to Waco on March 24, 2007 to take part in the Dr. Pepper Invitational, hosted by Baylor University, and achieved some new season-best marks.
On the women’s side, the Lions had strong performances in the field events. Lindsey Rainey finished fourth place in the high jump, by clearing a height of 1.50m/4’11”.
In the discus event, teammates Britney Fisher and Caylin Taylor finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively. The distances they threw were only 2 centimeters apart, with Fisher throwing 36.21m/118’9″, and Taylor throwing 36.19m/118’9″.
Rounding out the discus throwers for the Lions was Rachel Redding, with an eighth place finish, by throwing a distance of 34.60m/113’6″.
Taylor and Fisher both continued to have a strong performance at the Invitational, when they set new season-best distances in shot put. Taylor finished in fifth place with a distance of 10.71m/35’1.75″, while Fisher finished in sixth place with a distance of 10.60m/34’9.5″.
Niki Williams finished third place in the 3,000m steeplechase, with a time of 11:53.91. The Invitational marked the first time this spring that Williams has competed in the steeplechase event, which is an event she showed a strong presence in last spring for the Lions.
Amongst the strong field event performances for the men, was the discus and shot put events. In the discus events, the Lions had four throwers finish in the top-10.
Darron Sheppard finished in third (45.84m/150’5″), Ryan Graves finished in fourth (43.55m/142’10”), Larry Gilbert finished in fifth (43.39m/142’4″), and Justin Holcomb rounded out the Lions performances in the discus event, with a tenth place finish of 39.04m/128’1″.
Throwing in the shot put event, were Gilbert (4th – 15.07m/49’5.5″), Graves (5th – 14.96m/49’1″), Holcomb (7th – 14.06m/46’1.50″) and Sheppard (9th – 13.03m/42’9″).
Leslie White had a strong day in the javelin and high jump events, with top-10 finishes in both events. White finished fourth place in the javelin, by tossing a distance of 51.14m/167’9″. In the high jump event, White finished in a three-way tie for fifth place with teammate Kyle Thompson, and Stephen Dombroski of Tarleton State. The three cleared a height of 1.90m/6’2.75″.
Along with the three-way tie for fifth place in the high jump event, Thompson also finished fourth place in the 110 hurdles event, with a time of 15.24 seconds.
The Lions participate next in the UTA Invitational on March 31, in Arlington.