COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Louisiana Tech Track & Field opened the 2019 indoor season with a handful of first-place finishes, a pair of meet records and more than 30 top 10 marks on Friday afternoon inside the Gilliam Indoor Track facility at the Texas A&M Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station.
 
Louisiana Tech's men finished Friday's meet in second place with a team score of 58 points, while the women came in fourth place with a team total of 54. The two squads notched a total of 31 top 10 finishes combined on the day in field and running events, including 14 marks in the top five and five first-place performances by the Bulldogs and Lady Techsters.
 
"Today was a big day for our program," head coach Gary Stanley said following Friday's performance. "We set meet records in both the triple jump and pole vault for the men. The men placed second in team scoring and the women came in fourth, so overall, it was a good team effort on both sides."
 
Louisiana Tech set a new school and meet record on the men's side with Cole Courtois winning the men's pole vault and breaking his own program mark with a vault of 17-1.75 (5.23m). Andrew Spellman also competed the men's pole vault competition and tied for 10th with a mark of 14-4.5 (4.38m).
 
In the men's field events, the Bulldogs claimed two more first-place finishes in the long jump and triple jump. Denzel Harper took home first in the long jump with a mark of 25-0 (7.62m), which ties for seventh in school history. Khalil Jones' triple jump of 50-11 (15.52m) was also good for first place on the day, tied for 10th in LA Tech history and set a new meet record. LA Tech's Colin Butler also competed in the men's long jump and finished 11th with a jump of 22-4.25 (6.81m), while Caleb Clark came in ninth in the triple jump with a mark of 47-3.75 (14.42m).
 
The Lady Techsters had four women finish in the top 10 in the triple jump competition, led by Jznae Kim in fourth place with a jump of 39-6.75 (12.06m). Kim was followed by Jada Branch (39-6.75; 12.06m) in fifth place, while Dominque Anderson (38-9.5; 11.82m) placed seventh and Leah Scott (38-0.25; 11.59m) finished ninth in the event.
 
Melody Korie led the women in the long jump event with a mark of 19-8.75 (6.01m) to place second, while Kim (17-8.75; 5.40m) and Scott (17-8.25; 5.39m) finished 13th and 14th, respectively. To close out the jumping events for the Lady Techsters, Sydney Anderson finished the women's high jump tied for ninth place after recording a jump of 5-3.75 (1.62m).
 
LA Tech had two women claim first place in throwing events with Liza Wall winning the weight throw with a mark of 59-2.75 (18.05m) and Rhea Thompson claiming first place in the shot put with a throw of 47-6.5 (14.49m). Wall's first-place throw ranks third in Louisiana Tech history. Thompson also came in fifth in the weight throw with a mark of 55-1 (16.79m), while Alexis Jones finished 11^th in the shot put with a throw of 40-5.5 (12.33m).
 
LA Tech had two women competing in the pole vault competition on Friday in College Station with Monique Apuakehau (11-2.5; 3.42m) placing ninth on the day and Anna Weeks (10-8.75; 3.27m) following in 10th place.
 
In the men's weight throw, Malek Evans led the way for the Bulldogs with a mark of 58-11.25 (17.96m) to finish in second place, while Tim Fitzgerald placed ninth with a throw of 50-0 (15.24m) on the day. Fitzgerald also finished eighth in the men's shot put with a throw of 47-2.25 (14.38m), while Evans followed in 10th place with a mark of 46-10.75 (14.29m).
In Friday's running events, Ahmad Young placed fourth in the men's 60m hurdles with a time of 8:05 in the finals, while Claudasha Watson finished fifth in the women's 60m finals with a time of 7.66.
 
LA Tech had three top 10 finishes in the men's 1-mile race with Conner Killian leading the way for the Bulldogs in fourth place with a time of 4:22.19. William Harrell followed in sixth place with a time of 4:24.60, while Josiah Perez placed ninth in the event with a final time of 4:27.19. Riley Killian competed in the 1-mile race on the women's side and finished 15th with a time of 5:34.18.
 
In the 400m races, LA Tech's men were led by Tajhe Jones, who placed sixth on the day with a time of 48.88, while the women were paced by Taylor Shaw, who finished in seventh place with a final time of 58.35.
 
Both the men and the women finished in the top 10 in the 4x400m relays. Two groups of Lady Techsters competed on the women's side, finishing in fourth place (3:55.17) and sixth place (3:58.32), respectively. On the men's side, the Bulldogs finished the relay event in seventh place with a final time of 3:19.48.
 
The Bulldogs and Lady Techsters return to action next week on Jan. 18-19 when the teams travel to compete in the Vanderbilt Indoor Meet in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
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