SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – A&M-Commerce track and field is on the way home after the men finished second and the women grabbed third at the Joe Gillespie Tri Meet.

For the men, Tyler Rambo was the lone Lion to make progress on the provisional qualifying front. The junior won the shot put with a heave of 17.12 meters, which is an outdoor personal-best that improves upon his previous provisional qualifying time, propelling him up to seventh overall in Division II. Elsewhere in the throws, Joseph Brown picked up a new personal best mark in the discus with a launch of 47.39m, as he and Hendrik Nungess went first and second in the event. In the hammer, Masoud Moghaddam unsurprisingly crushed the event once again with a throw of 63.06m, but the real story was Chase Graham, who came within two one-hundredths of achieving a provisional-qualifier as he smashed his personal-best by over five meters. Moghaddam, Graham and Dion went first-second-third in the event. In the javelin, James Lundy and Kellen Dion followed suit by also going first and second, as each achieved new personal-bests of their own. Lundy added a first-place finish in the high jump as well with a leap of 2.05m. Gage Bowles picked up a first place-finish in the long jump (7.14m) to round out the field events.

Out on the track, the No. 4 men picked up three first-place finishes in the dashes. Junior Luis Romero did it in the 800m (1:53.77) while Soren Gnoss got his in the 200m (21.86). The third belonged to football's Dionte Taylor, who won the 100m dash with a time of 10.88 in his first appearance for the track and field team. Elsewhere, DJ Richardson did work in the hurdles with a second-place finish in the 110m (14.71) and a third-place finish in the 400m (56.21). In his first crack at the steeplechase, Mark Gonzalez finished second with a time of 10:04.06. Each of the relay teams finished second overall, with the 4x100 (Louis Simon, Josh Reynolds, Dionte Taylor, Josiah Dennis) crossing the finish line at 42.39, and the 4x400 (Luis Romero, Soren Gnoss, DJ Richardson, Eric Williams) clocking in at 3:14.18, becoming the fourth team-combination for the Lions to earn a provisional qualifying mark.

For the women, Kamryn McKee was once again the standout, as the freshman was responsible for three separate personal-bests. McKee finished fifth and fourth overall respectively in the 100m and 200m with times of 12.47 and 24.83. The third mark came as the Lions hit a new season-best time in the 4x400m relay. McKee, along with Ana Baleveicau, Tyler Cottingham and Ashley Bassett, ran a time of 3:49.21, finishing second overall and beating their previous best time by over three seconds. Baleveicau would go on to win the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:02.54, while Bassett would finish second in the 800m run with a personal-best time of 2:23.19. Rounding things out on the track, Tori Lenz and Mackenzie Myers finished second and third overall in the 5000m run with times of 19:30.40 and 19:31.49 respectively.

Out on the field, Rebecca Mueller finished second, third, and fourth overall in the discus, javelin and hammer throw respectively. The native of Germany managed a personal-best performance in the hammer throw, lobbing the ball and chain for 42.24m. Hailey Nelson grabbed a first-place finish for the Lions in the high jump, while sophomore Selasie Koto would also finish first in the triple jump (11.39m). Rounding things out for the Lions, Jasmine Carter achieved a fourth-place finish in the shot put with a distance of 12.03m.

Host Tarleton State won on both the men's and women's fronts, with team scores of 181.5 and 146 respectively. For the Lions, the men scored 154 points while the women finished the day with 87 points. The third and final school Angelo State recorded 140 points (men) and 55.5 points (women).

The Lions will return to Commerce for next few weeks, as their next action will come next Saturday, April 18. On that day, A&M-Commerce will host its second meet of the season, the East Texas Invite. The Lions will not have to return to the road until Saturday, April 25, when they head to Houston to take part in the J. Fred Ducket Twilight hosted by Rice University.\\

A&M-Commerce 2015 Outdoor Qualifiers

WOMEN
Ashley Bassett (400m Hurdles) 1:01.95 *
Hailey Nelson (High Jump) 1.69m
Rebecca Mueller (Discus) 46.41m
Ginnie Lee (Heptathlon) 4538 Points

MEN
John David Rollins (100m) 10.48
John David Rollins (200m) 21.23
Luis Romero (800m) 1:52.27
DJ Richardson (110m Hurdles) 14.52
Gnoss, Rollins, Richardson, Williams (4x400m Relay) 3:13.56
Jamal Curtis (High Jump) 2.11m
Matt Rich (Pole Vault) 4.91m
Gage Bowles (Long Jump) 7.29m
Anthony Harris (Long Jump) 7.27m
DeVontae Steele (Triple Jump) 14.99m
Gage Bowles (Triple Jump) 14.91m
Tyler Rambo (Shot Put) 17.12m
Masoud Moghaddam (Hammer) 65.34m *
Hendrik Nungess (Javelin) 73.24m *@
Matt Rich (Decathlon) 7107 Points *@

@ - Automatic Qualifier
* - School-Record