April 17, 2005

Results

NACOGDOCHES - The Lamar women's track and field team used four individual victories to grab a second-place team finish, while the men's squad placed seventh at Saturday's 2005 Dogwood Invitational, hosted by Stephen F. Austin at Homer Bryce Stadium.

Junior Chinelo Nwobu, senior Candace Taylor, junior Natasha Williams and the women's 4X400-meter relay team each won individual titles, while helping the Lady Cardinals rack up 118 team points for a runner-up finish in the 10-team field. Host SFA won the meet with 152.50 points.

Nwobu, a native of Houston, returned to the track for the first time in several weeks and showed no signs of injury as she blazed to a personal-best time of 55.45 in the 400 meters. It was her first open quarter-mile of the outdoor season and she took advantage, recording the second-fastest time in the Southland Conference and the fourth-best time in Lamar history.

The women were also triumphant in the 800 meters, as Taylor notched her first victory of the `05 outdoor season with a first-place finish in a time of 2:15.56. She was closely followed by teammate Amber Prather, who clocked a time of 2:15.58 for third place. Williams added a win in the 5,000-meter run with a season-best time of 18:04.48. Sophomore Amanda King was second in the same event after turning in an 18:37.04 in her first 5K of the season.

The women's mile relay unit also recorded a season-best time of 3:47.82 in route to a win in the 1,600-meter relay. The time was almost three seconds faster than this season's previous best of 3:50.26, run at last weekend's Texas Relays.

On the men's side, senior Trenton Price and junior Jake Champagne each posted victories in the 400 and 800, respectively, to carry the Cardinals to 60 points and a seventh-place finish. SFA won the men's team title with 165.50 points, while Northwestern State placed second with 136. Sam Houston State (91) was third, Louisiana-Monroe (83) was fourth and Rice (69) rounded out the top five.

Price, a native of Arlington, raced to his second win of the season in the quarter-mile with an NCAA regional qualifying time of 47.24. His time was an improvement on his previous season-best (47.40), which led the league. Champagne won his first individual race of the outdoor season, clocking a 1:53.44 in the men's 800. The Port Neches product now has three top three finishes this spring.

Sophomore Casey Cole also performed well for the Cardinal men, as the Beaumont West Brook grad equaled his season-best in the high jump. Cole earned a tie for fifth place with a leap of 6-04 ¾.

Both LU track squads return to action next week, taking part in the Michael Johnson Invitational, Apr. 21-24 in Waco, Texas.