PARIS – Former Texas A&M University-Commerce women's track and field student-athlete Mariana Shostak got things going for the Lions in Paris, racing in the mixed 4x400 meter relay on Friday for Team Ukraine.
 
Shostak ran the anchor leg for Team Ukraine, who finished 14^th with a time of 3:15.51. Shostak ran a leg of 51.98 seconds to secure the sixth-place finish in the heat. The Netherlands edged out the United States for gold.
 
"The whole experience was just incredible!" said Shostak. "The atmosphere in the stadium was breathtaking. Of course, as a team we expected a better result, at least setting the national record, but just the fact that we are here, and we are Olympians makes everything unbelievable!"
 
For the Lions, Shostak was a four-time All-American while also winning three conference championships as well.