PALO ALTO, Calif. - While the rest of the Lamar University's track and field team are down in Houston set for the J. Fred Duckett Invitational, Yasmin Austridge was on the campus of Stanford University running in the Payton Jordan Invitational which included a field of pro athletes and the top collegians. In a season that has seen her best program marks and put herself among the nation's best, she ran another statement to everyone in the NCAA.

Running in the women's 3000m steeplechase, she would place third in the event posting a time of 10:07.64. However, the top two finishers, who each broke the 10-minute mark in the event were unaffiliated with any university. This meant that Austridge finished as the top collegiate athlete in the event. Her time was nearly 10 seconds faster than the next two collegiate athletes.

After one lap, she was in second place following a split time of 1:17.55 seconds. She would hang with the top two finishers for most of the race until they pulled away late. For assistant coach Andrew Sweeney, although she was unable to win, this was an opportunity for Austridge to put herself among the nation's best, which is something she hopes to have happen later in late May and June.

"This was Yaz's first time getting into one of these bigger races in the regular season," said Coach Sweeney. "She did a great job of putting herself in the mix with some high level professional runners. She didn't have her best day out there and ended up falling off a bit, but to still finish as the top collegiate athlete with a time that usually qualifies on to the NCAA Championships is a good sign for her goals the rest of this season. She learned a lot from this, and it speaks volumes to what she's capable of when this is considered an 'off' performance. I'm proud of the way she competed, and look forward to the postseason now."