HOUSTON - Capturing 22 Top 10 finishes and 10 Top Five finishes, Lamar University's track & field team had a tremendous day in the Houston Alumni Invitational on Saturday. The Cards had Parl Eelma get third in the women's high jump, Ju'Vonta Conston take third in the men's high jump, James Stockings race to third in the men's 1,500, Ruta Okulic-Kazarinaite take third in the women's 400-meter hurdles, and Keegan Crawford take third in the men's 400-meter hurdles.

Lamar's first Top 10 came in the women's long jump where Thai Williams hit a mark of 18' 10.75" on her third attempt. That jump is the seventh-best mark in the Southland Conference as of March 27. Javon McCray matched Williams' fourth place finish in the men's triple jump when he hit a mark of 48' 6.75" - fifth-best in the SLC.

Eelma's third place mark of 5' 3.75" came on her first attempt at that height but she couldn't get past that mark. The junior from Tallinn, Estonia, already ranked eighth in the SLC in the event with a height of 5' 5.25" which she set at the Texas Relays last month. Migle Muraskaite got 10th in the event with a height of 5' 1.75".

Conston's third place finish of 6' 6" in the men's high jump is tied for fourth in the conference with Houston Baptist's Iyanu Adeyeye.

Muraskaite hit a mark of 42' in the women's shot put, Mya Taylor ran a 4:58.12 for fifth in the women's 1,500 meters, and Stockings got third in the men's 1,500 meters. Nejc Ferle ran a 4:05.96 for sixth in the 1,500 and Harry Halford got eighth with a 4:08.30.

In the women's 100-meter hurdles Paula Sprudzane got seventh with a 14.63 and Wreagan Taylor took 10th with a 14.87. The men's 110-meter hurdles also saw Top 10 finishes with Tony Land taking fifth with a 15.23 and Talon Tilley taking eighth with a 16.50.

The men's 400-meters saw a Top 10 finish from Webster Slaughter who took eighth with a time of 48.35. Doubling the distance Jack Gooch took sixth in the men's 800-meters with a time of 1:56.39, and Brandon Lantau also finished in the Top 10 (10th) with a 1:57.62. The women's and men's 400-meter hurdles each saw a Top 3 with Okulic-Kazarinaite taking third in the women's at 1:03.65 and Crawford taking third in the men's with a 57.29. Muraskaite had a sixth place finish in the women's 400 hurdles and Land took fourth in the men's 400 hurdles with a 59.98.

The Cardinals return to action on April 19 at the War Eagle Invite in Auburn, Ala.

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