A&M-Commerce has strong weekend track showing

Men's

With three members of the Texas A&M University-Commerce men's and women's track and field team at the Texas Relays, the remainder of the team traveled to San Antonio on Friday for the Tiger Relays, hosted by Trinity University.

For the second straight meet, the men's team was led by strong performances from the middle distance duo of senior Robert Reed and junior Brandon Womack. Reed (pictured) won the 1,500-meter run in a time of 3:59.60, followed by Womack, who was second in 4:01.21; additionally, senior Tyler Tyndell finished ninth in a time of 4:05.17. Both Womack and Tyndell set personal bests with their performances.
Womack also finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:25.35) and junior Cairo Thornton claimed third in the 400-meter dash (49.97).

In the 110-meter hurdles, sophomore Demetrius Holmes and freshman Craig Shelton were third and fourth in times of 15.80 and 15.84, respectively. Holmes was also sixth in the 400-meter hurdles, followed by freshman teammate Akeem Jackson (seventh) and Shelton (ninth). The Lions landed three in the top seven in the 100-meter as senior Cody Bolton was fourth, sophomore Justin McGuffey was fifth and sophomore Kyle Weaver was seventh.

The Lions also performed well in relays events, winning the 4x100-meter relay and sprint medley relay and finishing second in the 4x400-meter relay and third in the 4x800-meter relays.

In the field events, Weaver was second in the javelin with a throw of 159-10 and senior Anthony Valle was third with a throw of 146-4. Valle also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash in a season-best time of 23.00. In the shot put, freshman Josh Howe was sixth with a toss of 43-3.75, followed by junior teammate Marquis Stimpson in seventh with a toss of 43-3.

The Lions next compete in the North Texas Spring Classic in Denton, Texas, on April 10.

Women's

The women were led by sophomore Charnita Hollands, who placed fifth in the 100-meter dash and sixth in the 200-meter dash in times of 12.72 and 26.19, respectively. Junior teammate Makesha Brewer (pictured) was sixth in the 400-meter dash (1:00.11) and seventh in the 200-meter dash (26.55). Both were involved in the sprint medley relay, which placed second in a time of 1:51.53.

The Lions next compete in the North Texas Spring Classic in Denton, Texas, on April 10.

Texas Relays

Texas A&M University-Commerce sophomore Shagayla Petty posted an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time in the 100-meter hurdles at the 83rd annual Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, on Friday.

Petty finished seventh in her heat, which consisted entirely of Division I athletes with the exception of herself, in a wind-aided (2.2 meters per second) time of 14.50. Although her time was wind-aided in terms of national rankings, the NCAA allows winds of up to 4.0 mps when qualifying for the national meet. The allowable wind for nationally ranked times and records is 2.0 mps.

The NCAA has two qualifying methods for Division II athletes – automatic and provisional. Athletes who run the former are automatically eligible for the national meet. Athletes running the latter, however, must wait to see how many participants are accepted into the field of their respective event at the national meet. The automatic time in the women's 100-meter hurdles is 13.90 and the provisional time is 14.55.

Additionally, senior sprinter Chad Washington and freshman sprinter Jakesia King posted season-best times in the men's and women's 100-meter dash, respectively. King ran a 12.69 in the women's event; Washington ran a 10.96 in the men's.