SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – A&M-Commerce track and field wrapped up a highly successful outing at the ASU David Noble Relays, as the men finished first and the women third against a field of six teams.
Against a group stacked with top-notch LSC opponents, including No. 4 Angelo State (W), No. 5 Angelo State (M), No. 13 A&M-Kingsville (M), No. 18 Tarleton State (M), No. 23 Tarleton State (W), No. 27 A&M-Kingsville (W), the Lions achieved excellent results. The No. 3 men pulled off the victory with a team-score of 202.5, over thirty points ahead of second place. The women meanwhile grabbed third place with a score of 114, upsetting the fourth-place Javelinas who finished 15.5 points below the Lions with a score of 98.5. A&M-Kingsville entered the meet ranked nearly 40 spots ahead of A&M-Commerce in the most recent USTFCCCA national index.
The men picked up seven new provisional qualifying marks on the day, while improving on two other pre-existing marks. Four of those came out on the track, where senior John David Rollins reigned supreme for the Lions. Rollins won the 100m dash with a personal best, provisional qualifying mark of 10.48, which ties him at the sixth-best time in Division II. He followed that up with a second place finish in the 200m dash. Before that though, the senior hit yet another personal best, provisional qualifying time of 21.23 in the preliminaries, which is seventh best in Division II. Rollins was also a part of the third-place 4x400m Relay team consisting of him, Soren Gnoss, Josiah Dennis and Eric Williams. Though the team's mark of 3:14.22 was not the season-high for A&M-Commerce, they were the third different team-composition for the Lions to achieve a provisional-qualifying time.
Elsewhere on the track, DJ Richardson followed up his strong performance at the Texas Relays with a personal-best provisional qualifying time of 14.52 in the 110m hurdles (17th in Division II), going fourth. He also logged a second personal-best performance in the 400m hurdles with a second-best time of 53.77. Luis Romero secured the team's fourth provisional qualifying mark with a second-place time of 1:52.27 in the 800m (11th in Div. II), the same event for which he is a reigning outdoor All-American. Rounding things out for the men's day on the track was Ryan Kallenbach's second place finish in the steeplechase (10:19.66), Eric Williams' third place finish in the 400m dash (48.87), and Andrew Cobos' third-place time in the 1500m run (4:03.00). All three times marked personal-bests.
The Lions only had a single provisional qualifying mark in the throws, but it was a significant one. As per his usual, Masoud Moghaddam annihilated the competition in the hammer throw with a heave of 65.34m, which improves upon the A&M-Commerce school-record that he already owns, and keeps him at third-best in Division II. Additionally, Tyler Rambo grabbed first-place in the shot put with a heave of 16.85m. Also of note in the throws, James Lundy finished third in the javelin with a toss of 51.87m, setting a new personal-best mark for the senior.
In the jumps, the men would hit four more NCAA provisional qualifying marks. Gage Bowles narrowly improved upon his long jump provisional qualifier with a third-place finish in the long jump with a distance of 7.29m. Just behind him in fourth, reigning outdoor All-American Anthony Harris hit a provisional-qualifying mark of his own with a leap of 7.27m, becoming the third Lion to grab a qualifier in the event. Bowles wasn't done there either, as he hit a personal-best, provisional-qualifying mark of 14.91m in the triple jump to finish second. Ahead of him in first, freshman DeVontae Steele matched his personal-outdoor-best distance of 14.99m. Wrapping things up for the Lions, Matt Rich greatly improved upon his personal-best performance in the pole vault, going second overall with a provisional-qualifying mark of 4.91m, which is tied for the sixth-best mark in Division II.
The Lion women meanwhile hit two provisional qualifying marks on the day, bringing their season-total to three. Hailey Nelson improved on her high jump by over two inches, finishing second overall with a provisional qualifying height of 1.69m, tying her at 11th overall in Division II. Elsewhere in the jumps, the Lions went 2 and 3 in the triple jump as Selasie Koto and Ginnie Lee each hit personal bests with distances of 11.44m and 11.24m respectively.
The women's second provisional qualifying mark came in the discus throw. Rebecca Mueller, who had come close at the Tarleton State Invitational, finally broke through with a second-place distance of 46.41m (11th-best in Div. II), while teammate Anitial'a Robins finished fifth overall with a personal-best throw of 42.89m. Mueller would also deliver a third-place performance in the javelin (32.07m) while Felicia Boyefio grabbed fifth (28.60m). Both throws were personal-bests.
Out on the track, the Lions achieved a respectable outing. The women's 4x400m relay team of Ana Baleveicau, Ashley Bassett, Tyler Cottingham and Kamryn McKee recorded a third-place finish with a time of 3:52.04, beating their previous season-best time by over two seconds. Baleveicau would go on to set a personal-best time of 1:02.52 in the 400m hurdles to finish third, while McKee grabbed third-place in the 200m and 400m dashes with times of 25.26 and 58.24, both personal-bests.
The Lions return to Commerce for now, but will soon be summoned back to the campus of Angelo State. Next Thursday, April 9, the ASU David Noble Relays resume with the multi-events still to come. Competition is scheduled to take place at the school's centroidal landmark, the newly-built LeGrand Stadium.
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
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
James Lundy (High Jump) 2.04m
Matt Rich (Pole Vault) 4.91m
Gage Bowles (Long Jump) 7.29m
DeVontae Steele (Long Jump) 7.24m
DeVontae Steele (Triple Jump) 14.99m
Gage Bowles (Triple Jump) 14.91m
Tyler Rambo (Shot Put) 16.95m
Masoud Moghaddam (Hammer) 65.34m *@
Hendrik Nungess (Javelin) 73.24m *@
@ - Automatic Qualifier
* - School-Record
