Lamar sports information

SAN ANTONIO — With 26 student-athletes that rank in the Top 25 of the Southland Conference Outdoor Performance list in 48 events, Lamar’s track & field team heads to the 2018 Outdoor Championships with high hopes. Thirty Cardinals in total will compete this weekend in the event hosted by the University of the Incarnate Word at Benson Stadium, Trinity University Stadium, and the athletic fields of Northeast Independent School District.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Migle Muraskaite is one of four Cardinals ranked in at least three separate events, leading LU with a Top 20 spot in five events. The freshman from Vilnius, Lithuania, holds a program record in the heptathlon at 5,306 points, almost 1,000 more than the previous record set by Karen Gibson in 1985 — Gibson had 4,695 points. Muraskaite’s heptathlon total, set at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, ranks second in the Southland this year behind McNeese’s Grace McKenzie. Muraskaite broke the Texas Relay record in the heptathlon’s javelin throw; she threw a mark of 146 feet, 7 inches, almost 7 feet further than the next closest competitor.

Muraskaite also ranks in the Top 10 in the SLC in the women’s javelin throw (third, 146 feet, 7 inches) and 800-meters (seventh, 2:14.31) and in the Top 25 in the shot put (17th, 42-9) and high jump (T-23rd, 5-1.75). She’ll compete in the heptathlon and javelin throw this weekend.

The conference leader in the 10,000-meters, Jamie Crowe is another Cardinal ranked in three events. He’s second in the 5,000-meters and fifth in the 1,500-meters.

Deja Phillips is third in the women’s long jump (20-3.5), 10th in the women’s triple jump (38-2.5), and tied for 20th in the 200-meter dash (24.70).

Matthew Arnold is the final Cardinal ranked in at least three events. He’s fifth in the 5,000-meters (14:29.36), 10th in the 1,500-meters (3:52.34), and 11th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:34.53).

Not to be discounted are two-time reigning SLC Indoor Women’s Athlete of the Year Thai Williams (second in the 100-meter dash and sixth in the women’s long jump) or Brian O’Bonna (second in the men’s triple jump and eighth in the men’s long jump).

Cormac Kelly (fourth in the men’s 1,500-meters), Keith Fallon (fifth in the men’s 1,500-meters), Dawson Chumley (tied fourth in the men’s high jump), Ju’Vonta Conston (tied fourth in the men’s high jump), Keri Banks(tied fourth in the women’s high jump), Katy Whiteoak (sixth in the women’s 5,000-meters), Tylen Guidry (sixth in the men’s triple jump), Katie Buckley (seventh in the women’s 1,500-meters), Trashauna Hardy (eighth in the women’s 200 meters), Meagan Menifee (eighth in the women’s 100-meter hurdles), Webster Slaughter (eighth in the men’s 400 meters), and Javon McCray (10th in the men’s triple jump) are all ranked in the SLC Top 10 in at least one event.

THE CARDINAL SCHEDULE
Though the 2018 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships officially open at 9 a.m. on Friday and will include 58 events running until 3:35 p.m. on Sunday, Lamar will compete in only 23 of those events.

The first event Big Red will participate in will be the first four events of the women’s heptathlon, scheduled for a 9:30 a.m. start at Trinity University Stadium. Muraskaite will run the 100-meter hurdles, compete in the high jump, and throw in the shut put before ending the first half of the heptathlon with the 200-meters. She’ll then head to the women’s javelin throw at 4:30 p.m.

Guidry, O’Bonna, and McCray will rep the jump squad in the men’s long jump at 3 p.m. Friday, and Williams and Phillips will compete in the women’s long jump at 5:30 p.m. with Phillips defending her 2017 SLC Outdoor Championship title. Whiteoak (women’s 10K) and Crowe and James Stockings (men’s 10K) will round out the day in the distance events scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., respectively.

Muraskaite will again start the Cardinal competition on Saturday with the second half of the women’s heptathlon; the long jump, javelin throw, and 800 meters. She’ll again get the day going at 9:30 a.m.

The men’s jump trio of Guidry, O’Bonna, and McCray — which sounds like a law firm — are next up for Lamar on Saturday in the men’s triple jump, slated for 3 p.m. O’Bonna and Guidry took first and second, respectively, in last year’s outdoor championships.

Buckley and Tuckfield will run the women’s 1,500-meters at 3 p.m. as well, and they’ll be followed 15 minutes later by the men’s 1,500-meters that will feature Fallon, Nejc Ferle, and Kelly. The championships will shift from the distance events to the sprints for the women’s 100-meter hurdles (Menifee and Taylor) at 3:30 p.m. and the men’s 110-meter hurdles (Tilley) at 3:50 p.m.

McClenon and Taeylor Roquemore are slated for the women’s 400 meters at 4:05 p.m. with Christian Joseph and Slaughter in the men’s 400-meters just 20 minutes later.

Williams is the lone Cardinal scheduled for the women’s 100-meter dash at 4:45 p.m., and Phillips and Kelsey Smith will appear in the women’s triple jump at 5 p.m.

Mason Mathews (men’s 400-meter hurdles — 6:20 p.m.), Hardy and Na’Imah Muhammad (women’s 200 meters — 6:40 p.m.), and Satchel Smith (men’s 200-meters — 7:05 p.m.) will round out the day at Benson Stadium before Matthew Arnold runs the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 8:20 p.m. at Trinity Stadium.

Chumley and Conston open Sunday’s slate with a 10 a.m. start in the men’s high jump followed by the women’s 4×100-meter relay team at noon and Banks in the women’s high jump at 12:30 p.m.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay team will wrap the day at 3:25 p.m.