NACOGDOCHES, Texas –
Davis Wenthe,
Krystan Bright and
Ashton Rainey combined to add four all-conference honors Saturday as Lamar University closed out the Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The LU women completed the three-day meet in fourth, scoring 98.5 points, while the men finished sixth with 54.
Northwestern State clinched the women's team title for the third year in a row with 147.5 points, while Stephen F. Austin earned the men's team title with 164.
In total, the Cardinals recorded 10 top three finishes, including two conference champions in
Anthony Oliver (hammer throw) and
Mariam Buenanueva Saleme (heptathlon), four second-place finishes and four third-place finishes. In addition, 13 athletes received all-conference honors while LU accumulated 42 top-10 finishes.
Wenthe earned two top-three finishes, starting with third in the men's 400-meter hurdles finals. He was in front of the field with 50 meters to go, before crossing the line with a personal best of 50.40 seconds. This is now the third-fastest time in program history, trailing Dede Gipson (49.75; 1972) and Mark LeDoux (50.21; 1998). Later, he teamed up with
Ethan Ellis, Tre Brown and
Tyler Minter to place second in the 4x400m relay at 3:07.25.
Bright claimed third in the finals of the women's 400-meter hurdles, crossing the line at 59.54 seconds and missing out on first by just three-tenths. This was the first time in her career she ran a sub-minute time in the event and was also the first all-conference honor. Bright also finished ahead of teammates
Aryssa Rodriguez (59.94) and
Kayla Smith (59.98), who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Rainey earned her second all-conference nod with a third-place finish in the women's 5,000m at 16:57.07. Throughout the spring semester, Rainey achieved four top three finishes in both the indoor and outdoor conference championships combined.
LU will now wait and see which athletes will be heading to Fayetteville, Ark. for the NCAA West Regionals. That meet will take place from Wednesday, May 27
th through Saturday, May 30
th.
