STARKVILLE, Miss. – With uncomplimentary weather conditions overhead, the Samford University track and field team trekked over to compete in the Jace LaCoste Invitational hosted by Mississippi State University at Maddox Track on Saturday, April 30.

"We have had five weeks in a row of hard training and competing." Head Coach Rod Tiffin further explained. "This was our last big training cycle before the SoCon Championships. I feels once our legs get back under us we should be in a great position for conference. I wish the rain had held off a little longer today but we were able to get in some really good performances in spite of the weather."

Senior sprinter Kimberly Ruch set a new personal best in the women's 200 meter dash with an 8^th place finish time of 24.53. The time was such an improvement it moved her all the way to second overall in the Samford record book and is the third fastest time in the SoCon this season. Ruch also turned in a 5^th place finish in the women's 100 meter dash with a sprint of 11.95 and placed 8^th in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best 14.14 mark.

The women continued their strong showing with a trio of top-10 finishes in the women's 1,500 meter run as Ansley Bos took 5^th (4:32.39), Emma Garner 6^th (4:32.65) & Laura Sola Tari placed 7^th with a time of 4:40.50. Both Garner and Tari's time serve as their own personal best in the event.

Freshman thrower Tatiana Taylor continued to improve as she pushed herself to make a personal best 51.66m throw in the hammer throw. The mark was good enough for 6^th place while Aerial Horton placed 7^th overall with a season high mark of 48.57m.

A trio of Bulldog high jumpers rounded out the women's impressive performance on the day as Courtney Prengaman took 6^th overall with a mark of 1.65m while Selena Popp placed 8^th (1.60m) and Carrie Neill took 9^th (1.60m).

For the men, the Bulldogs turned in a trio of Samford Top 10 times in the 3,000 meter run. Freshman Ben Bryant finished 2^nd overall with a personal best time of 8:38.12 while senior Luke Weishaar finished 4^th (8:48.44) and Paul Richardson rounded out the effort with his 6^th place finish time of 8:53.81.

The more Bulldogs would turn in top five finishes on the day as Tray Oates took 2^nd in the men's pole vault with a mark of 5.08m. In the triple jump, Javion Lee took home a 3^rd place finish with his leap of 14.94m and Brian Smith also took home a 3^rd place finish in the men's shot put with a throw of 15.10m.

In the men's 1,500 meter run, three more Bulldogs would turn in personal best performances as Josh Salter took 8^th overall with his personal best time of 3:57.03 while Owen Bailey placed 10^th overall with his time of 3:58.16 and Andrew Jaeger placed 20^th overall for competing in the even for his first time with a time of 4:07.06.

The Southern Conference Outdoor Championships are a mere two weeks away from starting on April 12, but the Bulldogs are first scheduled to compete in Athens, Georgia next week at the University of Georgia Invitational on May 7.