Cardinals Open Outdoor Track Season at Texas Invitational

March 24, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas - The Lamar University men's and women's track teams opened the 2008 outdoor season at the Texas Invitational at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin Texas on Saturday, posting 14 top 10 finishes.

The Cardinal men were led by a strong pack in the 3,000 meter run as Francis Kasagule, Samuel Kosgei, Frank Bwambale and Randy Becker all finished in the top 10. Kasagule notched a second place finish in 8:31.50 while Kosgei finished right on his heels in a time of 8:31.90 for third place. Bwambale and Becker finished in fourth and ninth place respectively in times of 8:43.82 and 9:06.53.

In other men's action, Michael Gauthier ran to a fourth place finish in the 100 meter dash in a time of 10.90 while Ewan Simpson grabbed sixth place in the 1,500 meter run in a time of 4:00.24. The LU 4x100 relay team finished in sixth place with a 42.67 second performance while the 4x400 relay team finished in seventh place in a time of 3:16.36.

On the women's side the Lady Cards were led by the `B' team in the 4x100 meter relay as they crossed the finish line in 47.50 seconds while the `A' finished in 47.71. The 4x400 relay team also notched a top five finish, posting a time of 3:53.81.

Individually, Jessika Johnson notched an eighth place finish in the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 14.33 while Brittany Pollard and Toni Sylvester finished in ninth and 10th in the 200 meter dash. Pollard clocked a time of 24.84 seconds while Sylvester finished in 24.90.

The LU track team will be back in action when they run at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. on Friday. The members who do not travel to California will be in action on Saturday when they run at the Bayou Classics in Houston.