Although the wind was an obstacle for the Lions throughout the Boathouse Sports North Texas Classic, hosted by the University of North Texas in Denton on April 14, the teams were still able to finish with 15 season-best times at the meet.
On the men’s side, Sammie Ervan set a new season-best time in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.90 seconds, while the 200-meter dash provided many new faces and season-best times.
Greg Strickland ran the 200-meter for the first time this spring and recorded a time of 22.41 seconds. His finish is the top time for the Lions this spring in the event and also places Strickland among the top-10 in the Lone Star Conference.
Leonard Jackson finished the 200 right behind Strickland with a new season-best time of 22.43 seconds. Anthony Valle improved his season-best time in the 200 by finishing in 22.98 seconds. Lance Smith ran the 200 for the first time this spring and finished with a time of 23.69 seconds. To finish the season-best improvements for the Lions in the 200 was Sammie Ervan, who finished the event in 24.95 seconds.
The men’s distance runners ran in the 3,000-meter run for the first time this season. The 5,000-meter run is the more traditional distance event that was not run at this meet.
In the 3000, Robert Reed, Alfredo Soto and Gerardo Delafuente all ran the event for the Lions and all three finished in the top-15, with Reed finishing in the top-10. Reed finished in 9:12.08, Soto in 9:25.51 and Delafuente in 9:52.42.
Kyle Thompson ran in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing in 14.89 seconds and, in doing so, set a new season-best and placed himself in the top-5 in Lone Star Conference in the event.
On the women’s side, Katie Barthold led the Lions in the 100 and 200-meter dashes with a new season-best time of 12.86 seconds in the 100. In her first time running the 200 this spring, Barthold set a new team-best time of 26.61 seconds.
Also improving their season-best times in the 100 were Ebony Lewis and Sabrina Hadnot, finishing in 13.00 seconds and 13.53 seconds, respectively.
Andra Bickel ran in both the 800-meter run and 1500-meter run with times of 2:32.58 and 5:25.21. Bickel’s time in the 1500 was a new season-best, improving three seconds from her previous season-best mark.
Haley Wright set a new season-best throw in the javelin event with a throw of 27.61m (90’7″). Her previous season-best was set at Tarleton State in early March.
The Lions will participate next at the TCU Invitational on April 21 in Fort Worth, followed by a week off to prepare for the Lone Star Conference Championship meet, which will be hosted by A&M-Commerce here at Memorial Stadium on May 4-6.