HOUSTON, Texas - Lamar University's track and field team opened their indoor season at the Leonard Hilton Invitational hosted by the University of Houston. The meet was highlighted by debuts from some of LU's newest breed of talent and also recurring strong performances from some of the returners.

There would be multiple top five finishes with the best finishes being from Yasmin Austridge, Miles Jones, and Kenson Tate. Austridge placed second in the 3,000m breaking the 10-minute marker with a time of 9:53.73. She finished ahead of teammate Nia Clatworthy, who's time of 10:05.21 was enough for fourth place. In the field, Kenson Tate displayed his All-American self by jumping into second place in the long jump going 7.48m.

In his first-ever collegiate event, Miles Jones took second in the high jump clearing 2.00 meters while Elijah Jackson trailed by two spots and .05m behind. Fellow freshmen Kevin Adams III (15.75m) and Alex Williams III (15.10m) also made their collegiate debuts as they took third and sixth in the weight throw respectively.

There were also a few PRs that were etched in LU track and field history from Kayli Johnson and Steven Jones. Johnson qualified for the 60m hurdles finals with an 8.89 time to be in sixth place. She then added a sixth place finish in the finals removing seven-tenths of a second from her original time.

Steven Jones would qualify for the men's 60m finals by placing an eighth place time of 6.90, which was the fourth best time in program history. He later finished eighth adding one-tenth of a second to his time in the finals. Though she didn't qualify for the finals, Sydne Porter's time of 7.77 in the women's 60m was enough for ninth all-time in program history.  

The long distance runners also put together good marks in this event Jaylon Roberts (49.56) and Faith Outing (57.32) each took fifth in their respective 400m events while cross country members Eli Peveto (4:26.01) and Jonathan Rivera (8:38.83) each had a fourth place in the mile and 3000m respectively.

In the final events, the 4x400 relay teams each placed in the top five as the men clocked in at 3:19.15 for third while the women placed fourth at 3:58.20.

LU will return to Houston next week to partake in the Robert Platt Invitational.

Below are the participants and their meet results.

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