HOUSTON - Sprinting out of the gates in its season debut, Lamar University's outdoor track & field team thoroughly impressed Friday and Saturday at the 37th Annual Victor Lopez Classic. 24 individuals and three relay teams finished in the Top 10 of their respective events, including wins of the men's 5,000-meter and men's 1,500-meter races.
Jamie Crowe picked things up right where he'd left off with another stellar performance in the men's 5,000-meter race. The senior from Glasglow, Scotland, won the event with a time of 14:35.39. He was joined in the Top 10 by
Harry Halford who finished seventh with a time of 15:04.67.
Also competing on Friday were the men's and women's 1,500-meter Section B groups. In the men's Section B
Kyle Garcia ran a 3:59.58, his new personal best, for second place in the group.
Brandon Lantau ran a 4:04.09 for seventh - also a personal best for the freshman.
Mya Taylor ran a 4:47.56 in the women's 1,500 for fourth place in Section B, a personal record.
Saturday started with Section B of the women's 100-meter hurdles where
Parl Eelma earned her first Top 10 of the season with a race of 14.97. She finished seventh and set a new personal best in the event. LU's next Top 10 finishes came in the men's 400-meter dash Section B where
Kyle Nelson (second, 48.86) and
Mike Ford (10th, 50.10) also had Top 10 results and PR's.
Kyara Levi (sixth, 58.66),
Kelsie McClenon (seventh, 59.21), and
Taeylor Roquemore (ninth, 1:01.99) all finished in the Top 10 in the women's 400 Section B with Levi's results a new personal best, and
Tony Land also had a personal best and a Top 10 finish in the men's 400-meter hurdles Section B with a fourth place finish in 59.45. The men's and women's 200-meter races were the last two in Section B and yielded no Top 10 results.
Webster Slaughter opened the day for LU in the non-Section B events. He ran a 47.23 in the men's 400-meter dash for second place, a new personal best time for the sophomore. His efforts were emulated by
Keegan Crawford in the men's 400-meter hurdles a few minutes later when Crawford took sixth place with a 55.80. On the women's 400-meter hurdles side
Ruta Okulic-Kazarinaite came in eighth with a 1:07.94 in her outdoor collegiate track & field debut.
Jordan Rowe had Lamar's other gold medal finish of the day when he ran a 3:49.66 in the men's 1,500-meter race, a new personal best.
Matthew Arnold was just six seconds behind Rowe for fourth place with a 3:55.56, about three seconds off his personal best time.
Jack Gooch made his collegiate outdoor T&F debut with a sixth place finish in the men's 1500-meter at 3:56.22, and
Liam Burthem also impressed in his debut with an eighth-place 3:56.68.
James Stockings rounded out the Top 10 finishes with a ninth-place 4:01.66.
Sophie Wood had the lone Top 10 in the women's 1,500 with a fifth-place 4:36.14.
Both of Big Red's men's 4x400 relay teams had strong showings in the event on Saturday. Lamar A (Crawford, Slaughter, Ford, and Nelson) came in third with a time of 3:17.52 and Lamar B (Collins, Smith, Waldrup, and Land) came in ninth with a time of 3:27.35. The women's 4x400 team of Levi, Okulic-Kazarinaite, McClenon, and Roquemore came in fourth with a time of 3:58.06.
Migle Muraskaite (2nd, 138' 7") and
Parl Eelma (5th, 131' 7") had Top 10 finishes in the women's javelin throw and
Ju'Vonta Conston was the lone jumps squad Top 10 representative with a 10th-place finish in the men's high jump, clearing 6' 2".
Lamar's outdoor track & field team returns to action on March 27 at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.
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