NEW ORLEANS - The score didn't come out in favor of the Tulane Track and Field program at their first scored meet of the season, but the women's program set 27 season best marks and the men's team posted 14 top season performances versus South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette at the Jaguar Track in Mobile, Alabama on Saturday afternoon. The women placed second out of three teams with 72.5 points and the men's squad finished third with 15 points. "It was the right meet for our team to compete at early in the season," said head coach Eric Peterson "We had seven individual event winners today and closed the meet with a good 4x400 race. Rebecca Coady and Olivia Kizzee each had great performances for us on the track and, looking at the results, almost every athlete came away with a season best performance. Even though we did want to win the meet, I am very proud of the way the team responded after falling behind during the field event portion of the competition."
Ana Ruzevic claimed her second straight Javelin competition with a toss of 41.98, defeating her nearest competitor by just .14-meters. Nicolette Takuposted a season-best showing of 12.45 meters in the triple jump to claim the event and Julia Whitrock posted the teams top time in the 3000-meters with a winning time of 10:39.26.
"Brian Lozes and Max Yanker each had great performances for us today," said coach Peterson. "Brian, after falling during the 1500 meter, still had a chance to win the event and set a season best time. For him to recover from that and put up a season best time shows that there is a lot more to come from a pretty tough kid. Max had great attempts at his personal best in the high jump and the rest of our team showed some improvement during our competitions." On the men's side of things, the Olive and Blue didn't walk away with any event victories, but the team posted some season best performances at Jaguar Track.Brian Lozes finished just two-seconds behind the winner in the 1500-meter run posting a season best time even after falling down during the final lap. Lozes also finished fourth in the 3000-meter and Jon Frano posted a runner-up finish in the 400-meter with a 51.14 showing. Jared Firestone placed third in the 200-meter dash with a 23.03 mark and Frano posted a fifth place finish in the event with a time of 23.54. Max Yanker posted a season-best jump of 1.95 meters in the high jump to place second in the event. "We are excited about competing at this meet again next year," said coach Peterson. "It is a great early season measuring stick to where our team is at starting the outdoor season. Right now, we feel pretty good about where the team is at and will look for the team to continue improving as we head towards the Conference USA and NCAA Regional meets." The Green Wave will take to the track next on April 2 and April 3 at the Tiger Classic on the Auburn Campus.