Kats shine at Texas Relays, Bobcat Invite
4/3/2016 9:37:00 PM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
On the biggest stage of the regular season in front of them, the Sam Houston State men's and women's track and field programs did not shy away.
The Bearkats recorded 10 top-10 performances at the 89th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays with more than 7,500 athletes competing and over 43,000 fans taking in the four-day event hosted by the University of Texas.
Senior Ashley Jenkins took third in the hammer throw with a toss of 198 feet, 11 inches, a mark ranking inside the top 15 nationally. Teammate Danielle Demas and Courtney Lord also shined on the big stage in fourth-place finisher. Demas ran 13.41 in the 100-meter hurdles while Lord went 5 feet, 5 ¼ inches in the high jump.
On the men's side, the Bearkats secured two fifth-place marks including the distance medley relay team of Evan Arambula, Eric Pouncy, Robert Monticone and Jeffrey Moore running a school-record 9:55.64. In the discus, James Endsley recorded a toss of 170 feet in the discus throw.
The Bearkats picked up sixth-place finishers at the Relays with Elizabeth Lyssy doing so in the javelin (144 feet, 3 inches), Garrett Larson in the pole vault (17 feet, 1 inch) and Kalvin Singletary in the hammer throw (204 feet, 9 inches).
Singletary would go on to add a seventh-place finisher in the discus (167 feet, 10 inches) and was followed closely by teammate Aaron Akens (166 feet, 5 inches) in eighth. The Kats logged another eighth-place finisher in the shot put courtesy of Kristine Hank's mark of 43 feet, 4 ½ inches.
For the second consecutive weekend, Ana Moreno set a new program record in the 5,000 meters. The senior ran 17:20.42 in a 12th-place finisher. In preliminary action, the women's 4x100-meter relay squad (Danielle Demas, Elizabeth Ene, Melicha Smith and Paula Smith) went 12th at 45.89 and the squad's 4x400-meter unit (Briana McCall, Kodii Church, Camry Grigsby and Ruth Amaku) took home the same finish at 3:49.18.
The 4x800-meter relay tandem of Bailey Rhodes, Robert Monticone, Kennedy Howard and Jeffrey Moore took 13th at 7:45.37 in 13th. In the women's heptathlon, Avery Zamzow tallied 4,895 points, a feat that ranks 30th nationally. Zamzow set personal bests in the high jump with 5 feet, 5 ¼ inches in 10th while placing 22nd at 14.52 in the 100-meter hurdles.
Just down the road in San Marcos, several Bearkats posted big marks at Texas State's Bobcat Invitational including Ashton Summers and Camry Grigsby who took first. Summers did so in the pole vault at 16 feet, 4 ¾ inches while Grigsby ran 2:11.27 in the 800 meters.
Two Kats took runner up including Elizabeth Lyssy in the javelin throw (142 feet, 3 inches) and Ashley Thompson in the pole vault (13 feet, 1 ½ inches). Four athletes secured third-place finishers highlighted by Anthony Garcia in the javelin (192 feet, 11 inches), Justin Jenkins in the 200 meters (20.88), Ashley Jenkins the shot put (47 feet, 11 inches) and Briana McCall in the 800 meters (2:12.56).
Jonathan Andrews secured fourth in the high jump (6 feet, 6 ¾ inches) as did Margaret LaSalle with a personal best in the pole vault (12 feet, 7 ½ inches). Meanwhile, in the 5,000-meter run, Colton Stoker took fifth (15:11.41) as did Singletary in the shot put (51 feet, 10 inches) as well as the 4x100-meter relay tandem of Dedrick Brooks, Justin Jenkins, Kevin Beasley and Eric Pouncey (41.38).
Other notable finishes included sixth-place marks from Damian O'Neal in the 110-meter hurdles (14.50) and Paula Smith in the 200 meters (23.88). Logan Terry finished seventh in the 5,000-meter run (15:15.91) as did William Stark in the 400-meter hurdles (54.05) and Morgan Heinrich in the high jump (5 feet, 3 inches).
Sam Houston returns to action on Thursday at the Skechers Carl Knight Invitational, hosted by Stephen F. Austin. The event runs through Friday while other athletes will head to Abilene for the Wes Kittley Invitational on Saturday.
