AUSTIN, TEXAS – A&M-Commerce track and field followed an extraordinary first day of competition with more success, performing admirably against a field chaulk full of Division I opponents.
"I was happy with out team's performance as a whole. We had some very good performances, most notably Hendrik's, which would have won the A section by three meters," said head coach Tom Dibbern, referring to Hendrik Nungess' record-breaking, automatic qualifying throw of 73.24m in the javelin throw on Thursday, "We also had some areas that really need to be improved upon before the LSC Meet."
Reigning indoor All-American DeVontae Steele got back to his early-season form on Friday, snagging NCAA provisional qualifying status with a sixth-place distance of 14.99m in the triple jump, which currently stands as the second-best distance in Division II. The freshman gives the No. 3 ranked Lion men their eighth qualifying mark of the season, and is the only athlete at A&M-Commerce to currently own two provisional qualifying marks, the other coming in the long jump.
The Lions had one other provisional mark on the day in the men's 4x400m relay, which was able to improve upon their previous time of 3:13.95 set at the A&M-Commerce vs. Tarleton State Dual Meet. A squad of DJ Richardson, John David Rollins, Ravi Dubose and Soren Gnoss finished in the top half of opponents, hitting a time of 3:13.56 to go 23rd out of 46 teams, moving them up two spots to a third place tie in Division II. Earlier, Reggie Kincade and Dexter Lee subbed in for Richardson and Gnoss to form a 4x100m relay team that finished 30th out of 49 teams with a time of 41.55. The Lions' final relay effort of the day, a team of Dubose, Rollins, Eric Williams and Luis Romero, finished 11th out of 17 teams in the sprint medley relay with a time of 3:23.28.
Richardson and senior Matt Rich tried their hands at the 110m hurdles, with impressive results. Rich hit a personal best time of 14.86, breaking the 15 second barrier for the first time in his collegiate career to give the Lions a new season-best time in the event. Richardson meanwhile logged a time of 15.01, and the two finished 30th and 35th overall. Rounding things out for the men, Tyler Rambo gained a respectable eighth place finish in the shot put with a heave of 16.17m.
For the women, Jessica Clay secured a time of 15.33 in the 100m hurdles, falling just short of cracking her personal best time. The 4x400 meter relay team of Kamryn McKee, Ana Baleveicau, Tyler Cottingham and Ashley Bassett wrapped things up for the women with a finish of 3:56.00, finishing 41st.
The Lions will return home with nearly a full week off before they'll reinsert themselves back into competition. On Thursday, April 2, the Lions will head to San Angelo, Texas to take part in the ASU David Noble Relays at LeGrand Stadium.
