Lawrence breaks school record, Barton Track and Field compete amongst nation's best at LSU

The Barton Community College men's track and field team went south to Barton Rouge, Louisiana, for the weekend competing at the LSU Alumni Gold meet Saturday at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.  Competing against multiple athletes amongst the NCAA Top 10, along with decorated professionals and Olympians, the Cougars had multiple personal best efforts while also seeing a school record fall from the top spot.  

Inching his way up the Cougars' shot put top ten list throughout the outdoor season, freshman Sanjae Lawrence reached the top rung of the ladder on Saturday unleashing an 18.30m throw to break the 18.05m mark set by Max Alonso in the 2010 season.  The Jamaica native not only broke the mark once during the day, but twice in his three scored attempts, hitting the new record on his second attempt with his fourth attempt also surpassing the previous record mark.

In addition to Lawrence's nation leading record breaking day, the 4x100m relay team also had a great performance recording the tenth best time in school history.  The tandem of Terence Ware, McKinely West, Chedlin Sagesse, and Christian Lyon completed the oval in fourth place, crossing the line in a nation's second best time of 39.63.

The Cougars also got a tremendous effort in the 4000m hurdles as the Barton trio of Michale Reyes, Marquise Hill, and Brandon Felix took the top three spots of the "B Section" with each resetting his personal bests.  Reyes took first in the event with a 52.48 time for seventh best in the nation to edge out Hill's 52.74 and Felix' 52.94 who rank eighth and ninth respectively.  

West didn't beat his 200m personal and nation's second best time but did place fifth in the event with a 20.65 clocking while Sagesse improved his best time to a nation's twelfth best 20.97.  Deandre Jobe finished just outside the 400m top eight placing just behind former Cougar standout Alexander Richemond of Southern Mississippi by .01 seconds with a new 48.22 best time.

Barton's full oval relay team also had a good day in breaking their season best time with Reyes, Kemarni Mighty, West, and Jobe placing fourth in the event with a nation's third best time of 3:09. 43.

Barton's next action will come Friday as a partial squad of Cougars will head to Hays, Kansas, to compete in the Fort Hays State University Open.  The full Cougar squad will take the week away from competition in preparation of the Region VI Outdoor Championships to be held May 4-6 in Arkansas City, Kansas.