AUSTIN, TEXAS – The sophomores stole the show for A&M-Commerce T&F on the first day of action at the Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, as Ashley Bassett and Hendrik Nungess toppled two school records.
Bassett, the native of Allen, Texas, competed in a deep field for the 400m hurdles that featured lots of Division I talent from around the country. When the dust had settled, Bassett had won her heat with a time of 1:01.95, breaking the 25 year-old school record of 1:02.07 set in 1990 by Jackie Alford. Teammate Ana Baleveicau logged a time of 1:03.98 in the event as the 55th fastest qualifier, while Bassett's record-setting time was good enough for 34th fastest. Bassett's mark gives the Lion women their first provisional qualifier of the season, and stands at the top of Division II to date.
Hendrik Nungess put up the second record-breaking performance of the day. The sophomore out of Germany started things off by breaking his own record with a throw of 65.77m in the javelin. That in and of itself would have been good enough to secure Nungess a fourth-place finish on the day against a field composed of almost exclusively Division I opponents, but as time would tell, the best was yet to come. On his second-to-last attempt, Nungess extravasated for a throw of 73.24m to win the event by over six meters. The German's effort beat his former school-record of 64.03m by over nine meters, and is currently the top mark in Division II by a vast margin. Not only that, his throw was the fifth-greatest heave in NCAA Division II history.
Nungess wasn't alone in bringing glory to the Lions in the throws, as reigning USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week Masoud Moghaddam put up another vintage performance in the hammer throw. As the only Division II athlete against a field of 25 Division I opponents, Moghaddam claimed a fifth place finish with a throw of 62.41m.
Three more Lions competed out on the track before the day came to a close. DJ Richardson and Matt Rich raced in the 400m hurdles, finishing with times of 54.77 and 56.10 respectively. Rich's time was good enough to give the senior a new personal best. Meanwhile, Luis Romero finished third in his group in the 1500m run with a time of 3:54.88, beating his previous personal best time of 3:54.89 by the narrowest of margins.
Competition will resume tomorrow morning, with lots still left on the docket for the Lions. The women still have the 100m hurdles and the 4x400m relay to consider, while the men have both of those in addition to two more relay events, the shot put, the long jump and the triple jump. The first action of concern for A&M-Commerce will come at 10 a.m., when Tyler Rambo will compete in the shot put and former All-American Anthony Harris will test his mettle in the long jump.
