Commerce, Texas

The entire Texas A&M-Commerce men's and women's cross country teams set new career and season-bests on Saturday night at the Brooks Memphis Twilight Classic.

In an unusual setting, the meet was held at night rather than the traditional early-morning hours. The Lions adapted to the new settings as all 10 runners for A&M-Commerce established season and career-best marks with the Lone Star Conference meet just two weeks away.

The Lions, who finished 13th overall and ninth in Division II, were led by senior Niki Williams, who finished 19th overall and ninth among Division II runners, in a career-best time by nearly a minute of 18:26. Newcomers Sheila Bishop and Haley Wright both set new personal bests, finishing in 19:48.81 (56th-place) and 20:46:55 (84th place), respectively.

Rounding out the A&M-Commerce lineup, seniors Kara and Andra Bickel were separated by six seconds, setting new personal bests in 21:12.11 (91st) and 21:18.67 (93rd), respectively.

Harding University, who is ranked No. 3 in the nation, won the women's race in the 24-team field. The Lady Bison had four runners in the top 10 en route to the victory. Arkansas-Little Rock Whitney Kearth won the 5k race in 17:18.77, edging out runner up Janet Jesang of Western Kentucky by nearly three seconds.

Like the women, every runner on the men's team set new career best times in spectacular fashion, eclipsing their previous career best by more than a minute.

Freshman Alfredo Soto finished 27th overall and was the top finisher for the Lions for the fourth week in a row with a new career-best 8k time of 25:41. Jerry Delafuente and Robert Reed finished in 27:25 (76th) and 28:31 (102nd), respectively. Both improved their career best times by nearly two minutes. In his first cross country race for the Lions, Anthony Tosie finished with a time of 31:24 (132nd overall) and Sammie Ervan finished the 8k course in 34:35 (146th), shattering his previous career best by an astounding 3:56.

South Alabama, a member of the Sun Belt Conference and Division I, won the team title with the top three finishers. The Jaguars edged out the seventh-ranked in Division II Harding, who had all five of its runners in the top 19. USA's Vincent Rono finished the 8k course in 23:05.70, less than a second ahead of teammate Tony Okello.

The Lions will return to action in two weeks, when they travel to Stephenville, Texas, to compete at the Lone Star Conference Championship.