JOPLIN, Mo. – In a meet which was added to the initial schedule, the Texas A&M University-Commerce track and field teams performed well in the Missouri Southern Lion Open on Friday and Saturday.
 
"Our initial plan was to give our student-athletes a week of rest, however we saw that a few of our student-athletes needed to get a mark or just needed to get some technical work," said Lion head track and field coach George Pincock. "So we brought them to the meet this week and I think that was absolutely the right decision. We saw some good performances from  younger athletes and saw them do things that we hadn't seen him do yet this year. A number of our freshman women stood out. Kaelah Elvish, Keeley Norris, Kiara Brown, Braeja Johnson, and Franziska Decker all had a season best or life time bests. I hope that today served as a confidence booster for them."
 
Elvish placed third in the triple jump at 10.78 meters (35' 4 ½"), fifth in the long jump at 5.23 meters (17' 2"), and seventh in the 60 meter hurdles at 9.88 seconds.
 
Keeley Norris was the runner-up in the triple jump at 11.12 meters (36' 5 ¾") and third in the high jump at 1.60 meters (5' 3"), which tied for the top clearance, with placement determined on number of attempts.
 
Kiara Brown placed third in the 60 meter dash at 7.76 seconds, which ranks fourth in the Lone Star Conference this season.
 
Decker placed fourth in the pentathlon with 3,117 points. That score is good for third in the LSC this year.
 
The Lions close out the regular season next weekend at the Pittsburg State Indoor Gorilla Classic. That is the final meet before the LSC Indoor Championships on Feb. 29-Mar. 1.