With three weeks until the Southland Conference Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex, the Sam Houston State men's and women's track and field squads aced their first test at the venue this weekend placing 24 athletes in the top ten including 16 top five finishers.

“We had some great performances across the board," head coach David Self said. "Not only did we get a chance to experience the course but we had some athletes that ran really fast."

Among those athletes was senior Sabrina Starr who shattered the school-record in the 60m hurdles with a mark of 8.40 in the preliminaries only to surpass her own time in the finals with a mark of 8.33 and a first-place finish. Starr ranks first in the conference in her category.

Elsewhere, junior Lygia Foreman took the top spot amongst collegiate athletes in the 400m dash with a time of 55.52. Foreman currently claims second in the conference in the event.

Freshman Kori Soignet also assisted in solidifying a big day for the Kats with a personal-best of 5' 5.25” in the women's high jump and a third place finish – her highest of the season.

Sophomore Danielle Demas continued her dominance with a fifth place finish and time of 8.83 in the 60m hurdles. Demas ranks second in the conference in the category – only behind Starr.

Another notable for the women included junior Katelyn Wynn's collegiate-best of 12' 7.50” during a fourth-place finish in the pole vault. The effort was enough to push Wynn into first in the conference in the category.

Sophomore Lauren Nwegbo, freshman Khalaya Williams and junior Adrienne Quillin would get into the action as well with a trio of top ten finishes. Nwegbo took seventh in the 60m dash with a time of 7.66; Williams placed ninth in the long jump at 18' .50” and Quillin placed fifth in the weight throw at 57' 2.25.”

On the men's side, the Kats captured three second-place finishes on the day courtesy of senior Jarrick Wright, sophomore De'Quad Binder and senior Matthew Viverette.

Wright's time of 6.80 in the 60m dash was a collegiate-best and places the senior in a tie for third amongst all conference competitors on the season.

In the men's 800m run, it was a similar story for Binder who also secured a personal-best of 1:52.13 and has taken over second in the conference in the category.

For Viverette, a mark of 8.16 was one-tenth of a second off his career-best in the 60m hurdles and good enough for the Kats third second place finish. Viverette currently sits in second in the Southland amongst all competitors.

Sam Houston would score three more third place finishes by way of seniors Charles White, Palo Ponce and Brek Christensen. White captured a mark of 51' .75” in the triple jump and places first in the conference in the event. Meanwhile, Ponce scored a career-best of 15:10.15 in the 5000m run and stakes claim to fifth in the Southland.

Christensen would also capture a career-best in the weight throw with a mark of 63' 3.25.” Christensen has placed in the top three in the category during each of his four 2014 meets and holds down fourth place in the conference.

Junior Rodney Jones added a pair of top ten finishes including fourth-place in the 400m dash with a time of 48.01 and a ninth place finish in the 200m dash with a mark of 21.96.

Other top five finishers included sophomore Logan Terry's personal-best of 15:19.58 in the 5000m run (fourth place); freshman Garrett Larson's personal-best of 15' 9” (fifth place) in the pole vault in his third consecutive top five finish and senior Trevor Sealy's mark of 55' 1” (fifth-place) in the weight throw finish – his fourth consecutive top five finish of the season.

Freshman Kalvin Singletary also got into the action with a college-best of 48' 5.25” and ninth place finish in the shot put.

The Kats will compete at the Houston Tune Up this Friday as they begin to set their focus firmly on the Southland Conference Championships.

"After this weekend, we've looked at things and if we're not in the driver seat we're definitely at the front of bus," Self said. "We're going to use the Houston meet to fine tune things and set the tone for conference [where] our sights are set on winning both [men's and women's]." 

Women 60 Meter Dash B
7 Lauren Nwegbo SO Sam Houston St. 7.72 7.66

Women 200 Meter Dash
28 Elizabeth Ene SO Sam Houston St. 24.43 25.20 2
43 Danielle Demas SO Sam Houston St. 24.72 25.60 4
64 Sunday Foster JR Sam Houston St. 25.00 26.14 8

Women 400 Meter Dash
2 Lygia Foreman JR Sam Houston St. 54.60 55.52 1
18 Ruth Amaku SO Sam Houston St. 55.20 57.60 2
20 Jordan Grady FR Sam Houston St. 55.08 57.69 2

Women 800 Meter Run
10 Briana McCall FR Sam Houston St. 2:13.62 2:16.17 1
17 Nicole Aponte SO Sam Houston St. 2:20.18 2:18.07 4

Women 1 Mile Run
16 Nicole Aponte SO Sam Houston St. 5:08.38 5:03.84 2

Women 3000 Meter Run
23 Ana Moreno SO Sam Houston St. 10:29.98 10:28.67 2
25 Miranda Prado FR Sam Houston St. 10:36.19 10:29.84 3
26 Olivia Olguin FR Sam Houston St. 10:39.50 10:30.46 3

Women 60 Meter Hurdles A
5 Danielle Demas SO Sam Houston St. 8.82 8.83

Women 60 Meter Hurdles B
1 Sabrina Starr SR Sam Houston St. 8.40 8.33 

Women 1600 Meter
Sam Houston St. 'A' 3:45.20 DNF 1
1) Jordan Grady FR 2) Ruth Amaku SO
3) Sunday Foster JR 4) Lygia Foreman JR

Women High Jump
3 Kori Soignet FR Sam Houston St. 1.65m 1.66m 5-05.25
11 Paula Smith SO Sam Houston St. 1.65m 1.61m 5-03.25

Women Pole Vault
4 Katelyn Wynn JR Sam Houston St. 3.72m 3.85m 12-07.50
11 Kara Whitson JR Sam Houston St. 3.65m 3.70m 12-01.50

Women Long Jump
9 Khalaya Williams FR Sam Houston St. 5.22m 5.50m 18-00.50
30 Kaylynne Wright JR Sam Houston St. 5.87m 5.25m 17-02.75

Women Triple Jump
Kaylynne Wright JR Sam Houston St. 11.84m FOUL

Women Shot Put
31 Adrienne Quillin JR Sam Houston St. 13.63m 11.12m 36-05.75
-- Ashley Jenkins SO Sam Houston St. 13.02m FOUL

Women Weight Throw
5 Adrienne Quillin JR Sam Houston St. 16.46m 17.43m 57-02.25
9 Ashley Jenkins SO Sam Houston St. 17.34m 16.46m 54-00.00

Men 60 Meter Dash B
2 Jarrick Wright SR Sam Houston St. 6.88 6.80 

Men 200 Meter Dash
9 Rodney Jones JR Sam Houston St. 21.68 21.96 2 21.951
19 Jarrick Wright SR Sam Houston St. 21.74 22.27 3

Men 400 Meter Dash
4 Rodney Jones JR Sam Houston St. 47.18 48.01 2
13 Alex Gilreath JR Sam Houston St. 48.67 49.36 5

Men 800 Meter Run
2 De'Quad Binder SO Sam Houston St. 1:52.47 1:52.13 1

Men 1 Mile Run
17 Ryan Saam JR Sam Houston St. 4:28.00 4:25.40 3

Men 3000 Meter Run
13 Karl Schreiber JR Sam Houston St. 8:41.79 8:34.47 2
17 Daniel Jones SR Sam Houston St. 8:33.42 8:38.11 2
41 Lucio Rosas JR Sam Houston St. 8:50.92 9:07.12 3

Men 5000 Meter Run
3 Palo Ponce SR Sam Houston St. 15:12.87 15:10.15 1
4 Logan Terry SO Sam Houston St. 15:29.36 15:19.58 1

Men 60 Meter Hurdles A
2 Matthew Viverette SR Sam Houston St. 8.22 8.16

Men 1600 Meter
Sam Houston St. 'A' 3:10.12 DNF 1
1) Matthew Viverette SR 2) Alex Gilreath JR
3) De'Quad Binder SO 4) Rodney Jones JR

 Men Pole Vault
5 Garrett Larson FR Sam Houston St. 4.77m 4.80m 15-09.00

Men Long Jump
7 Charles White SR Sam Houston St. 7.32m 7.26m 23-10.00
17 Simon Imagbe FR Sam Houston St. 6.97m 6.65m 21-10.00

Men Triple Jump
3 Charles White SR Sam Houston St. 15.64m 15.56m 51-00.75
9 Chris Theriot JR Sam Houston St. 14.75m 14.43m 47-04.25

Men Shot Put
9 Kalvin Singletary FR Sam Houston St. 14.32m 14.76m 48-05.25

Men Weight Throw
3 Brek Christensen SR Sam Houston St. 19.26m 19.28m 63-03.25
5 Trevor Sealy SR Sam Houston St. 18.19m 16.79m 55-01.00