KINGSVILLE ? Both Tarleton men's and women's Track and Field teams finished in third-place overall at the 2009 Lone Star Conference Championships at Javelina Stadium in Kingsville on Saturday.

The Texans accumulated 126 total points over the past two days to finish behind LSC Champions Abilene Christian (238) and Angelo State (138).  Following the Texans were Texas A&M-Kingsville (60), Texas A&M-Commerce (49), Eastern New Mexico (24) and West Texas A&M (15).

The TexAnns tallied 84 points in two days of competition and finished behind LSC Champions ASU (331) and ACU (175).  TAMUC (23), TAMUK (19) and ENMU (13) followed the TexAnns to round out all of the teams competing.

"I was really proud of both teams and how they performed," Tarleton head coach Pat Ponder said.  "On the ladies side, we knew going in that it was going to be a tough hill to climb against ACU and ASU, but you have to give ASU credit for doing what they did.  I was extremely proud with the men.  Going in, we shouldn't have been within 30 points of ASU and to finish 12 points behind them is an accomplishment in itself with such a young team.  Both teams battled hard throughout both days and I couldn't have asked for more." 

Four different Tarleton athletes set provisional times/marks in Saturday's completion including LSC Champion in the women's 100-meter hurdles, Kandis Brooks.  The All-American won the event with a time of 14.17.  All-American Garrett Thomas finished second in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a provisional time of 14.17, freshman Jamal Mays finished second in the men's 100-meter dash with a provisional time of 10.55 and fellow freshman Hayden Eubanks set a provisional mark in the men's discus with a third-place toss of 164-07 feet.

Jared McNeil just missed taking home two LSC Championships on Saturday.  The sophomore went stride-for-stride in the final lap with ACU's Daniel Maina in the men's 1500-meter run, but Mania crossed the finish line first with a time of 3:55.96.  McNeil was right behind him finishing the race with a time of 3:56.24.  But the Saginaw native prevailed in the men's 5K, becoming the LSC Champion with a first-place time of 15:15.24.

All-American Chelsey Bradford placed third in the women's 100-meter dash with a time of 12.16.  She then helped guide the TexAnns to a third-place finish in the 4x100 relay, running the third-leg of the relay in her final LSC race of her career.  Brooks, Claire Goodman and Tara Towns were the other three ladies on the team who crossed the finish line with a time of 49.93.

Brooks (25.20) and Towns (26.33) each competed in the women's 200-meter dash, finishing in fourth and sixth places.  Mays finished third in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 21.74.  Austin Griffin followed in fifth place with a time of 22.47.

Courtney Newsom was the lone TexAnn running in the women's 400-meter dash and she finished sixth with a time of 1:02.03.  Aaron Donohue finished fifth for the men's 400-meter dash with a time 50.49.

Kymberlee Trnka, also competing in her final LSC Championships, finished third in the women's 800-meters with a time of 2:21.85).  Following her in fourth was Shelia Bishop (2:23.93), in fifth was Katherine Grillo (2:28.42), and ninth was Shadoh Campbell (2:35.26).  On the men's side, Chris Haerell took second-place with a time of 1:58.57 with Jordan Hurd (1:59.22) following in fourth and Bryan Ruiz (1:59.26) behind him in fifth.

Trnka picked up another third place finish in the women's 1500-meters with a time of 4:49.85.  Campbell followed in seventh with a time of 5:07.73.  Behind McNeil on the men's side, Haerell crossed the finish line with a time of 4:04.19.

Krista Morris, another TexAnn senior competing in her final LSC Championships, was the first Tarleton lady to cross the finish line in the women's 5K.  She came in at 19:32.21 with Vanessa Elizondo (20:09.38) behind her in eighth, Trnka (20:32.95) in 11th, Morgan Kuykendall (20:48.25) in 12th and Bishop (21:31.89) in 15th.  Along with McNeil's win, Kolin Styles took third-place with a time of 15:33.19.  Westyn Rosilies (15:43.34) followed in fourth and Gerzain Valenzuela (15:58.89) was right behind them in fifth.

Running with Thomas in the 110-meter hurdles was freshman Brock Harris who finished sixth in the event with a time of 15.32.  Jeff Smith (55.34) came in fifth for the Texans in the 400-meter hurdles with Thomas (55.90) behind him.

The men's 4x100 relay took third place with a time of 41.92.  Alex Adams, Mays, Griffin and Roderick Smith teamed up together for the podium finish.

The women's 4x400 relay team featuring Goodman, Jessica Ryan, Newsom and Towns, finished third with a time of 4:00.13.  The men's 4x400 relay came in sixth-place with a time of 3:21.78.  Mays, Griffin, Hurd and Donohue all took the baton for the Texans.

The discus (both men's and women's) and men's pole vault were the only two field events the Tarleton teams participated in on Saturday.  Andrew Grant came in seventh in the pole vault with a clearing height of 14-01.25 feet.

Florqueisha Carrington led the TexAnns in the discus finishing sixth with a toss of 132-01 feet.  Following her were Meredeth Persinger (116-02 ft) in ninth and Hillary Moreno (107-04 ft) in 12th.

Following H. Eubanks in the men's portion were his brother Nolan (155-03 ft) in sixth, Casey Keeter (153-02) in seventh and Jacob Pratt (152-10) in eighth.

Tarleton graduates just five seniors this season and will return a slew of freshman and sophomores next year.

"I can't say enough about how all of our seniors did this year and this weekend," Ponder said.  "The way Cassidi Porter battled back from the way she finished the high jump last season.  Krista and Morris ended their careers on high notes as well.  Chelsey, she'll have a chance to go on to nationals and it will be exciting to see her end her career there.  I was really excited for the ladies."

Tarleton's lone senior on the men's side, Chayden Feist, didn't have a great day in the pole vault as he was unable to clear his opening height, but Ponder believes it was just one of those things that "we don't know why it happens until later."

"I was dissappointed for Chayden, not dissappointed in him," Ponder said.  "He battled all season to get to this point and no one on the team was more devistated than him.  It was just one of those days, but he'll battle back at nationals."

"We had a classy group of seniors this season.  They were talented and they are going to be greatly missed." 

Tarleton has qualified 13 athletes for the NCAA Division II National Championships that are set to get underway in San Angelo on Thursday, May 21 and will run through Monday, May 25. Brooks, who set an automatic mark in the 100-meter hurdles, is assured a spot in the national meet.  The remaining 12 qualifiers will find out the rest of the field this coming Tuesday.