COMMERCE, TEXAS – The men and women both walked away with wins against Tarleton State in the first annual East Texas Dual, with the men taking a 106-74 win and the women squeaking by with a 90.5-89.5 victory.
 
Between the men and the women, the Lions combined for 18 first-place finishes on their first home-meet of the 2015 A&M-season.
 
"Early meets are preparation for May, and I don't put much stock into the results," said head coach Tom Dibbern, "But I'm proud of our kids for defending home track. It was a pretty good day."
 
A&M-Commerce saw six of its men achieve provisional qualifying marks on the day, two of which came in the long jump. Gage Bowles and DeVontae Steele went one and two overall in the event with marks of 7.28m and 7.24m, hitting personal best marks in the process. Steele wasn't done there, also recording a win in the triple jump with a distance of 14.43m. Another qualifier came in the high jump, where Jamal Curtis hit a huge mark of 2.11m to not only set his personal best and won the event, but hit the top height in Division II to date.
 
Out at John Cain Family Field where the throwing events were being held, the Lions procured three more provisional qualifying marks. Masoud Moghaddam improved upon his school-record by over a meter with a throw of 63.56m. His distance currently sits atop the Division II lists by over three meters. In the shot put, Tyler Rambo's victory with a heave of 16.95m, which also stands above the rest in Division II. Rounding things off in the javelin and discus, Hendrik Nungess won both events with distances of 62.14m and 45.08m, the former of which was good enough for a provisional qualifying mark.
 On the track, the Lion men absconded with four wins. In the sprints, John David Rollins and Dexter Lee won the 200m and 400m dashes with respective times of 21.84 and 48.20. Luis Romero and Ryan Kallenbach were victors in the distance events, with wins in the 1500m and 3000m steeplechase respectively with times of 3:58.88 and 10:24.94. Perhaps most impressively, though finishing second, the 4x400m relay team grabbed A&M-Commerce's sixth provisional qualifying mark with a time of 3:13.84.
 
For the women. Kamryn McKee was the star of the show, logging three separate victories. The freshman out of Lewisville first claimed victory in the long jump with a leap of 5.63m. She followed that up in the evening with a pair of wins in the sprints, taking the 200m with a time of 25.33 and the 400m with a mark of 58.32. McKee wasn't the only Lion to take home a win in the jumps, as teammate Selasie Koto won the triple jump with a distance of 11.10m.
 
In the distance events, Jenna McLaughlin and Terra Truitt torched the competition in the 800m and 1500m. McLaughlin's time of 2:23.12 won by over ten seconds, while Truitt's mark of 18:45.29 secured victory over second place by nearly 24 seconds. Rounding things out for the Lions, Anitial'a Robins won the discus throw with a mark of 40.55m.
 
The Lions will now have the chance to catch their breath for the next three days before one of their biggest meets of the season. On Wednesday, March 25, the Lions will begin competition at the Texas Relays hosted by the University of Texas Longhorns.