HOUSTON, Texas - In the penultimate indoor track and field event before the Southland Conference Championships, Lamar University's track and field squads competed in two different meets on Saturday. While most of the participants traveled to Houston for the Howie Ryan Invitational at the Yeoman Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Houston, four other runners flew up northeast for Boston University's David Hemery Valentine Invitational. In the two meets combined, there were six school records broken as well as five medalists (four bronze, one silver).

At the start of the day, Glennis Woolridge and Alex Williams III set new school marks in the weight throw. Woolridge was the first one to break the school's all-time mark with a toss of 16.42m (53'10.5"), which not only gave her fifth place, but also has her ranked second in the conference. On the men's side, Williams III bested his own school record by recording his toss of 16.36m (53'8.25") despite finishing in eight place. That same event saw Anthony Oliver post the third furthest mark at 15.33m (50'3.50").

Just two weeks after breaking the school's women's long jump mark, Kayli Johnson qualified for the finals of the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.51. Then, she blasted her own personal record by 10 seconds to finish third with a school record 8.41. Brianna Howard finished in fifth place of the 200m when she broke the 24-second mark to finish with a new school record all-time of 23.93.

In the women's 4x400m relay, the team of Faith Outing, Adebola Odunlami, Kayla Smith, and Chloe Rodriguez placed third as they broke the school's all-time fastest mark at 3:45.27. Up in Boston, Nia Clatworthy blazed through her previous 5000m time to post 16:27.81 by 30 seconds, which was second in her heat and 52nd overall. This time is now the all-time mark and nearly 10 seconds faster than the number two spot.

The mens' 4x400m squad of Jaylon Roberts, Ethan Ellis, Trent Guidry, and Cameron Chin nearly pulled off a win in their event. But despite placing second, their time of 3:13.08 was the sixth fastest time in school history.

After finishing eighth in the long jump, Jacarrius Demmerritte had a third place showing in the triple jump with a distance of 14.99m (49'2.25"). The men's 3000m would see Geovany Cisneros (8:27.85), Jonathan Rivera (8:32.09) and Crawford Kiser (8:34.16) become the first three collegiate runners to finish. Cisneros' time was 12 seconds faster than his previous mark and earned him third place while Rivera and Kiser took sixth and eighth respectively. Ashton Rainey ran a solid fifth in the women's 3000m (10:20.68) as she crushed her previous best by 17 seconds.

One member who had a solid day was freshman Ryan Servantes. The Mission native recorded two top-five finishes in the mile (4th; 4:14.85) and in the 800m (5th; 1:56.26) while setting new personal bests in both races. Other notable performances included Patrick Wolf's season best of 7.18m (23'6.75") in the men's long jump and Elijah Jackson's high jump of 2.03m (6'8") to take fourth.

Meanwhile, back in Boston, Annabel Hobday cracked the top 100 with a run of 4:52.21, which edges her previous time in the event by .06 seconds. Running in the women's 3000m, Cara Inch posted a personal best time by 1.59 seconds and the 10th fastest mark (9:52.74) in school history. Freddy RIchardson also set a personal best in the men's mile event with a time of 4:02.30, which also marks the third fastest time in program history.


Two weeks from now, the Cardinals will run in the SLC Championship meet. This will take place in the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala.


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