HOUSTON – Brendan Langley qualified for Saturday's 60-meter semifinals and Brian O'Bonna locked up silver in the long jump Friday when the Lamar University track and field teams opened up the Houston Invitational, a two-day event, hosted at the Yeoman Fieldhouse.
 
Langley raced to a 6.86 mark 60-meter mark, which placed him 13^th overall and second in his heat. It was his first career 60m event in his career at Lamar.
 
"Langley had a good run, but is capable of more," said head coach Trey Clark. "He will be able to go out and show that in tomorrow by executing a little better, but today he did what he needed."
 
The Georgia native will race in heat one of the semifinals with Aaron Piper (Stephen F. Austin), Justin Joe (North Texas), Mario Burke (Houston), Xavier Floyd (Houston), Uchenna Nnaji (Incarnate Word), Clinton Cole (Incarnate Word) and Kedron Sowells (North Texas). 
 
O'Bonna recorded his highest placement of the young season with second-place finish in the long jump. He marked in a 23-4.50, his last jump, just behind SFA's 23-6.75 jump.
 
"I thought Brian had a great day today, a lifetime best for him," said Clark. "He was very consistent off the board, which is a great sign for him."
 
O'Bonna set a PR in the 60m dash on a 7.08 time in the ninth heat.
 
"Sarah Shim had a great day and looked good," said Clark. "She was able to get two lifetime bests today."
 
Sarah Shim notched two personal bests in the opening day of the event, in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash. She clocked in at 7.85 in the 60m, which bested her previous best of 8.05 from 2014. In the 200m, she clocked in at 25.74, good enough for 12^th place.
 
Alexandra Sokolova notched a top-10 finished when she hit a 59.40 mark in the 400-meter run taking seventh place, the first time she competed in the event during her collegiate career. 
 
"Alex is really an 800 meter runner, but this week she was able to run short- which will help her 800 meters," said Clark. "She had a good performance today and will go out and run with one of the 4x4 teams."
 
Other than Langley and Sokolova with the 4x4 team, LU will primarily have distance events on Saturday. The Cardinals will run in the men's and women's mile, men's and women's 3000 meters and women's 800 meters.
 
After the Houston Invitational, the Cardinals will split the squad and compete at the New Mexico Classic and Meyo Invitational (Notre Dame) on Feb. 5-6.