ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN – Though the NCAA Nationals are less than half of the way through, the A&M-Commerce Lions already made a profound statement by way of Masoud Moghaddam's All-American-worthy performance in the hammer throw.
 
Moghaddam entered the meet as the first Lions scheduled to have an opportunity to score points for the Lions, and that's precisely what he did. The native of Iran set the tone early with a throw of 63.98m, allowing him to handily win the first heat and advance himself to the finals. On his final throw, with second place secure and effectively nothing to prove, Moghaddam left it all on the field by hurling the hammer for a new personal best throw of 66.32m, resetting his own A&M-Commerce school record and achieving All-American honors on the final throw of his collegiate career.
 
Thanks to the success in the hammer throw, the Lions scored better than expected, as Moghaddam had entered the meet as only the fifth ranked hammer thrower in Division II. By scoring eight points for his second-place finish rather than the four they were projected to win had he won fourth, Tom Dibbern's No. 1 ranked men's squad are in good shape heading into the remainder of the NCAA Championships.
 In the decathlon, Matt Rich and Hendrik Nungess each delivered solid performances to set themselves up in good positions heading into the second half of the event. The two find themselves in 10th and 11th respectively with scores of . Rich even achieved a new outdoor personal best in the high jump with a leap of 1.84m.
 
In A&M-Commerce's final event of the day, DJ Richardson gave the Lions a delightful surprise by snagging the ninth and final spot in Saturday's finals for the 400m hurdles. Richardson ran a time of 52.97 to pull off the feat, and assures himself, at the very worst, second-team All-American honors. If he can avoid finishing last, he'll not only propel himself to first team, but he will provide the Lion men with valuable points.
 
Two Lions came quite close to achieving glory on the day, falling just shirt. Both Ashley Bassett (400m hurdles) and Anthony Harris  (long jump) each finished 13th overall in their respective events, just one spot outside of second-team All-American consideration.
 
Day two of competition begins tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. EST as the decathlon resumes with the sixth event, the 110m hurdles. Outside of the decathlon, freshman Rebecca Mueller will be the first to test her mettle in the discus throw, which begins at 2:00 p.m. EST.