COMMERCE – The duo of Alex Speer and Tanner Townsend finished in the top-two spots at the East Texas Shootout for the host Texas A&M University-Commerce at Centennial Park on Friday. The men took second in the eight-kilometer race, while the women raced three individual runners, who all had top-25 finishes.
 
Speer (Robinson) and Townsend (Royse City) raced side by side for the entirety of the race. Speer pulled away in the last 100 meters and clocked in a time of 25:15.80. Townsend finished just three seconds later with a time of 25:18.72. The two helped the Lions finish second in a field of seven teams.
 
Texas-Dallas took first-place with its top-three runners finishing 3-4-5. A&M-Commerce's top-three runners finished 1-2-10.
 

Lions' duo of Alex Speer and Tanner Townsend finish 1-2 in this evening's race hosted by A&M-Commerce. Coach Phelps shares his remarks on the second-place overall finish for the Lions #BestInClass #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/qFSVQn6YVh

— A&M-Commerce Cross Country and Track & Field (@Lion_Track) September 11, 2021

MEN
Nicholas Deutsch (Frisco) ran a time of 26:24.94 to finish 10^th. Chris Navarrette (Laredo – Lyndon B. Johnson), who ran a time of 27:05.99, Marshall Pate (Kaufman), who clocked in a time of 27:07.73, and Jan Lanfert (Buckenhof, Germany), who recorded a time of 27:18.28, finished in the top-25.
 
Mykel Smith (Fort Worth – North Crowley) finished 29^th with a time of 27:33.60 and Joshua Schutter (Rowlett – Sachse) rounded out the Lions group with a 32^nd place finish and a time of 27:53.9.
 
WOMEN
The Lions fielded just three runners, thus were not eligible for the team standings. Alondra Campa (Kaufman) ran the top-time on the team for the second-straight week. She finished 19^th with a time of 20:33.11.
 
Edith Branch (Denton – Lake Dallas) clocked in a time of 20:47.16 to finish 22^nd. Yenifer Martinez (Irving – Nimitz) was right behind the top-two runners, finishing 24^th with a time of 20:58.35.
 
Dallas Baptist finished first in the team standings. The top-three and four of the first-five runners to finish were from DBU. Emma O'Donnell finished first with a time of 18:41.25.
 
UP NEXT
A&M-Commerce heads on the road for the first out of state race of the year. The Lions participate in the Southern Stampede hosted by Missouri Southern in Joplin, Mo., on Saturday, September 18.