COMMERCE, TEXAS – Both the men and women for A&M-Commerce grabbed a piece of school-history today as the men took first and the women second at the second annual East Texas Invitational.
The No. 6 ranked men pillaged points wherever possible to accrue an awe-inspiring 261 points, over 140 points more than second-place Tarleton State (114). The women meanwhile scored 160 points, coming up just one point shy of TSU.
Freshman DeVontae Steele was the first Lion on the day to reach a school record. With his 15.13m performance in the triple jump, Steele broke the six-year old mark of 15.08m set by Lyndon Wise in 2009. The mark improves his provisional qualifying mark, which is now fifth-best in Division II. The freshman now holds the triple jump record in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, joining Luis Romero (800m) as the only other Lion to possess both season-records in the same event.
The women got a record-breaking performance of their own, as the 4x400m relay team of Kamryn McKee, Ana Baleveicau, Tyler Cottingham and Ashley Bassett made history with a second-place run of 3:48.10. The mark breaks the previous school record of 3:48.89 set almost one year ago to the day at the first annual East Texas Invite by a team of Brooke Odom, Brikel Bailey, Vanessa Jackson and the aforementioned Cottingham. Not only did the time give the Lions their sixth school-record of the season, but it also gave the women their fifth provisional qualifying mark of the year. Baleveicau would give the Lion women yet another provisional qualifying mark of 1:02.32 in the 400m hurdles, finishing second behind teammate Ashley Bassett. McKee smashed her personal best in the 400m dash by over two seconds with a time of 55.99 seconds, a scant one one-hundredth of a second away from yet another provisional qualifying mark.
Elsewhere on the track, Jenna McLaughlin looted the victory in the 800m run with a time of 2:19.29, beating her previous mark by four seconds. Jessica Clay took second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.03, while Terra Truitt gave it everything she had to finish third in the 5000 meter run with a time of 18:26.54 before utterly collapsing at the finish line.
In the throws, freshman Rebecca Mueller once again dominated the conversation with a pair of victories in the discus and javelin. Her mark of 47.56m in the discus throw significantly improves upon her pre-existing provisional qualifying status, moving the native of Germany up to 11th overall in Division II. In the triple jump, sophomore Selasie Koto won the event with a big-time personal best distance of 11.74m, falling short of a provisional mark by a mere three centimeters. Rounding things out in the high jump, Hailey Nelson and Deandra Hanson went one and two with marks of 1.67m and 1.57m respectively.
For the men, victory in the meet was made possible thanks in large part to ten separate first place finishes in individual events, four of which came in the jumps. In addition to Steele's record-setting performance in the triple jump, Jamal Curtis matched a personal best 2.11m leap in the high jump while Matt Rich hit 4.71m in the pole vault, with both winning their events. Rich wasn't satisfied with just that, as the senior also pulled off a win in the 110m hurdles with a personal best, provisional qualifying time of 14.55 seconds. Gage Bowles, Anthony Harris and Steele went one-two-three in the long jump, with Gage Bowles obliterating his previous personal best with a mark of 7.60m, just five centimeters away from an automatic qualifier. Bowles vaulted himself to fourth in Division II with the effort.
Out in the throws, the Lions put together another strong performance. Masoud Moghaddam once again claimed victory in the hammer throw with a lob of 64.28m, while Hendrik Nungess delivered another win in the javelin throw thanks to a 62.46m chuck. Tyler Rambo couldn't quite pull off the trifecta, finishing second in the shot put thanks to a 16.04m performance.
Though they didn't break any records, it could very well be argued the 4x400m relay team of John David Rollins, Soren Gnoss, Eric Williams and Dexter Lee had the Lions' best performance of the meet. With a time of 3:09.56, the Lions won the event to vastly improve their provisional qualifying mark by four full seconds, moving up to second place in Division II. Elsewhere in the sprints, the 4x100m relay team of Anthony Harris, Soren Gnoss, Owen Harrison and Isaiah McFail took second with a time of 41.65. McFail would follow suit in the 100m dash with a second-place finish of 10.97 second, while Dexter Lee would take yet-another second-place with a personal best time of 47.49 seconds, a provisional qualifying mark. Rounding things out for the Lions in the distance events, Luis Romero improved upon his provisional qualifying mark in the 800m run with a first-place time of 1:51.55, while Mark Gonzalez wrapped up the meet with a first place finish in the steeplechase, beating his personal-best by nearly 15 seconds with a time of 9:49.80,
"I'm really proud of the way our kids competed at home," said head coach Tom Dibbern, "Hats off to our seniors, they were a big part of our success today."
The Lions will have the next week to prepare for the final meet of their regular season, the J. Fred Ducket Twilight hosted by the Rice University Owls next weekend on Saturday, April 25. After that, the Lions preparation will be complete one way or another, as the Lone Star Conference Meet in San Angelo, Texas will at last be upon us.
A&M-Commerce 2015 Outdoor Qualifiers
WOMEN
Ashley Bassett (400m Hurdles) 1:01.95 *
Ana Baleveicau (400m Hurdles) 1:02.32
McKee, Baleveicau, Cottingham, Bassett (4x400m Relay) 3:48.10 *
Hailey Nelson (High Jump) 1.69m
Rebecca Mueller (Discus) 47.56m
Ginnie Lee (Heptathlon) 4538 Points
MEN
John David Rollins (100m) 10.48
John David Rollins (200m) 21.23
Dexter Lee (400m) 47.49
Soren Gnoss (400m) 47.81
Luis Romero (800m) 1:51.55
DJ Richardson (110m Hurdles) 14.52
Matt Rich (110m Hurdles) 14.55
Rollins, Gnoss, Williams, Lee (4x400m Relay) 3:09.56
Jamal Curtis (High Jump) 2.11m
James Lundy (High Jump) 2.06m
Matt Rich (Pole Vault) 4.91m
Gage Bowles (Long Jump) 7.60m
DeVontae Steele (Long Jump) 7.24m
DeVontae Steele (Triple Jump) 15.13m *
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
