COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Taking home the top prize in both the men's and women's mile races, Lamar University competed with distinction Friday in the opening day of the 2019 indoor track & field season. The Cardinals totaled 17 Top 10 finishes including the sweep of the gold medals in the mile.
 
Thai Williams picked up right where she left off on Friday with two Top 10 finishes in the first meet of her senior season. The League City, Texas, native and reigning Southland Conference Indoor Track & Field Women's Athlete of the Year finished third overall in the women's 60-meter dash with a time of 7.59 and followed that up with an eighth-place result in the women's long jump with a distance of 18' 4 ½".
 
Wreagan Taylor made a splash in her collegiate debut with an impressive seventh place finish in the preliminary round of the 60-meter hurdles, recording a time of 9.04. She shaved four hundredths of a second off of that time in the finals, taking home fifth place with an even 9.00. The freshman finished just .39 of a second behind first place Baylee Lara of Sam Houston State, a senior.
 
Also making her collegiate track debut was Julie Emerson, a transfer from Durham University in England. Emerson captured first place with a time of 5:06.52, over 10 seconds ahead of second place Ciara Gilroy from McNeese. Jordan Rowe, the SLC Men's Cross Country Newcomer of the Year and an NCAA Championship qualifier, made his collegiate track debut with a win of the men's mile, finishing in 4:14.07.
 
Migle Muraskaite, the LU record holder for the pentathlon and heptathlon, recorded an eighth-place finish in an event outside of the pentathlon and heptathlon docket; the Vilnius, Lithuania, native ran a time of 58.36 in the women's 400-meters. Webster Slaughter also recorded a Top 10 finish in the 400-meters on the men's side – he came in fourth with a time of 48.44.
 
Sophie Wood, a junior transfer from Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, had the top finish for the Cards in the women's 3000-meters with a time of 10:17.38, recording a second-place result. Katy Whiteoak, returning to the team after an impressive first season, also finished in the Top 5 with a fifth-place time of 10:25.77.
 
Continuing to rep the distance events well were Kyle Garcia and James Stockings, who finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the men's 3000-meters. Garcia raced a time of 8:40.35 and Stockings ran an 8:50.46.
 
In the field events Parl Eelma made an impressive collegiate debut with an eighth-place finish in the women's high jump, clearing 1.67 meters. Tylen Guidry had a fourth place finish in the men's triple jump with a distance of 49' 5 ½", and Dawson Chumley and Ju'Vonta Conston both cleared 6' 6 ¼" in the men's high jump to finish sixth and seventh, respectively.
 
The day's events were rounded out by the 4x400-meter relays with LU taking eighth on the women's side with a time of 3:59.36 and the men capturing fifth with a time of 3:19.07.