BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA – A&M-Commerce men's track and field concluded their indoor season in emphatic fashion at the NCAA Division II Championships, as the Lions return to Commerce with seven All-American nods to show for their excellent season.
Senior Matt Rich was the first to grab All-American honors in the heptathlon, which concluded at the beginning of the second day of the meet. After finishing the first day in fifth place, Rich rallied to make up significant ground, finishing third overall with a personal best score of 5453 points, which beat his previous personal best of 5308 by nearly 150 points. To pull off the feat, Rich set indoor personal bests in four different individual events, including the 1000m run (2:49.84), the pole vault (4.80m), the 60m dash (7.23), and most impressively, the long jump (6.98m), which he won outright.
Not long after Rich, it was time for breakout freshman Devontae Steele to put the cap on his inaugural indoor season in the triple jump. Steele entered the meet with the second greatest distance in Division II at 15.40 meters, and showed unremitting improvement by hitting a personal-best performance of 15.47m, which was good enough for a second place finish in the event to secure the team's second All-American performance.
Four hours later, it was time for Tyler Rambo to test his mettle in the shot put. The transfer from Kansas followed Steele's example and improved upon an already-impressive personal-best mark by throwing a 17.31 meter lob to obtain All-American honors.
It wasn't until the final event of the entire meet, the men's 4x400 meter relay, that the Lions would produce their final indoor All-American-worthy performance. A&M-Commerce's squad, which consisted of Dexter Lee, John David Rollins, Ravi Dubose and Soren Gnoss, crossed the finish line seventh overall with a time of 3:14.67, and granted each member of the team All-American glory. For Lee, it was his second taste of All-American honors. The sophomore had previously finished tenth in the 400m dash, which earned him second-team All-American laurels.
Lee, Rollins and Rich wrap up their second All-American caliber season, all three having captured the distinction in last year's outdoor campaign. Gnoss and Steele meanwhile each managed to commandeer All-American accolades as freshmen. As a team, the Lions finished twelfth overall with a score of 21.00. No. 1 ranked Adams State was the top-scoring team of the meet, logging a total of 45.00.
"I was very proud of this group," said head coach Tom Dibbern, "It's always nice to finish higher than your ranking. This will be a good springboard to our outdoor season."
With the indoor portion of the season concluded at last, the Lions now turn their full attention to the outdoor campaign, which began last week at the Tarleton State Invitational. Things will resume this Wednesday, March 18, when the Lions will travel to LeGrand Stadium in San Angelo, Texas to take part in the ASU Spring Break Multi.
