Feb. 2, 2007

HOUSTON - The Lamar University men's and women's track and field team closed out day one of the Houston Invitational in style with the women winning the distance medley relay and the men narrowly being edged by the University of Houston.

The women ran a Southland Conference season-best time of 11:51.69, to finish in first place. The time bested the 12:29.51 the Lady Cardinals ran earlier in the season at LSU.

On the men's side, UH edged out Lamar by nine one hundredths of a second, posting a time of 10:04.60, while the Cards ran a 10:04.69. The Cardinals time is also the best in the SLC this season, shaving just over a second off their own time of 10:05.73, which they ran at LSU earlier in the season.

In the men's 400 meter dash "B" division, Stephen Boone posted a first place finish, running a 50.86, while Andy Haeggquist posted a fourth place finish in a time of 51.32.

The Lamar women also had a couple of solid showings, as Secret Thomas ran to a third place finish in the "B" division 400 meter dash in 1:01.19, while Porsche Williams finished in fourth place in the "B" 200 meter dash in a time of 26.68.

The Houston Invitational will conclude on Saturday, beginning at noon, with the final running event set to begin at 6 p.m.