HOUSTON, Texas - Anthony Oliver and Thomas Knoop earned gold medals for Lamar University on day one of the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships at Rice's Holloway Field Thursday. With LU picking up four medals on the day, the men's team sits in second with 28 points and trailing Stephen F. Austin (30) while the women are in fifth with 13.
 
Oliver won the hammer throw title by being the only athlete to eclipse 190 feet (58.02m; 190-04). Oliver's title throw set a new school record, eclipsing teammate Alex WIlliams III throw back in April (57.42m; 188-5).
 
Knoop claimed his first-ever SLC gold medal in the men's javelin. Having the furthest mark in each of the five prior rounds, it was the sixth toss of 68.09m (223-04) that sealed the victory over Southeastern Louisiana's Gabriel Lin by nearly 11 feet.
 
LU's women's team would get on the scoreboard when Ashton Rainey crossed the line second in the women's 10,000 meters at 36:10.13. In her first time running the event, Cara Inch (36.37.31) came within eight seconds of a top-three finish. Lloyd Sheppard-Brown collected a bronze in the men's circuit after clocking in at 31:05.06
 
Through four events of the heptathlon, Mariam Buenanueva Saleme sits in third place with 3,238 points, trailing the overall leader by 91. Her best finish of the day was second in the high jump portion, where she cleared 1.68m (5-06.00) alongside teammate Bethany Kelly.
 
Eight Cardinals have qualified for the finals in their respective events. In the men's 1,500m prelims, Freddy Richardson was one of two athletes to break four minutes (3:56.58), which earned him second. On the women's side, Annabel Hobday (3rd; 4:39.09), Inca Padfield (4^th; 4:32.60), and Emma Powell (9th; 4:40.55) each cracked the top 12 needed to advance. Also qualifying were 400m hurdles participants Kayla Smith (3rd; 1:01.84), Bria DeGray (7th; 1:03.73), Ethan Ellis (4th; 52.15) and Jonah Lane (52.44). The finals of each event will take place Saturday.
 
The conference meet resumes Friday as Buenanueva Saleme concludes the heptathlon at 1:00 p.m. Williams III opens up the field events in the shot put at 3:00 p.m. while Kayli Johnson kickstarts the running events with her appearance in the 100m hurdles prelims at 5:15 p.m.
 

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