KINGSVILLE - All-American Kasey Keeter finished second in the shot put after setting an NCAA Provisional mark with a throw of 53-05.75 feet and senior Cassidi Porter finished second in the high jump with a clearing height of 5-05.75 feet in Friday's first day of events at the 2009 Lone Star Conference Track and Field Championships at Javelina Stadium in Kingsville.
Also garnishing top-three finishes for Tarleton were senior Krista Morris, finishing second in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 12:22.09, Jared McNeil (9:39.53) and Westyn Rosilies (9:43.55), taking second and thrid place honors in the men's portion of the 3K steeplechase, and Kolin Styles, crossing the finish line third overall in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:36.36.
Several other Tarleton track and field athletes competed in finals events on Friday, including Vanessa Elizondo (43:07.70) and Morgan Kuykendall (43:45.51) placing fourth and fifth in the women's 10K along with Gerzain Valenzuela (32:53:38) and Ryan Quezada (33:00.73) also placing fourth and seventh in the men's 10K.
Tyler Rushing finished sixth in the high jump with a height of 6-04.75 feet while Aaron Schickendanz finished in ninth place with the same height. Tara Towns finished seventh in the women's long jump with a mark of 17-11.50 feet while Lonnie Buchanan came in eleventh place with a mark of 20-00.50 feet in the men's long jump event.
In the women's throwing events, Florquiesha Carrington garnished top-five honors with a fourth-place finish in the hammer throw with a mark of 136-03 feet. Hillary Moreno (122-09 ft) and Meredeth Persinger (119-03 ft) finished the same event behind her in sixth and seventh places. All three ladies finished in the same places in the shot put event. Carrington had a mark of 40-05.00 feet while Moreno finished with a mark of 37-08.00 feet. Persinger ended the day with a mark of 37-03.25 feet.
Jacob Pratt picked up a top-five finish in the hammer throw with a fifth-place toss of 147-06 feet. Keeter (138-05 ft) and Stowell (129-11) followed Pratt with seventh and eighth place finsihes. Nolan Eubanks (49-04.25 ft) finished 10th in the shot put with his brother Hayden (45-09 ft) following behind in 15th.
Both the men's and women's discus will be held on Saturday, as will be the men's pole vault.
Preliminary events took place for most of the running events on Friday. Tarleton qualified 17 athletes to participate in Saturday's finals. Those athletes include Chelsey Bradford (100m); Jamal Mays and Roderick Smith (100m); Kandis Brooks and Towns (200m); Mays and Austin Griffin (200m); Courtney Newsom (400m); Aaron Donohue (400m); Chris Haerell, Bryan Ruiz and Jordan Hurd (800m); Brooks (100m hurdles); Garrett Thomas and Brock Harris (110m hurdles) and Jeff Smith and Thomas (400m hurdles). The men's and women's relay races will be run on Saturday as well.
Field event will begin at 10 a.m. with running events scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
