LUBBOCK, Texas- The Texas State men's and women's track and field teams won a pair of distance races and had over 20 of this season's top indoor marks in the Sun Belt Conference when the Bobcats competed at the Texas Tech Red Raider Invitational on Friday afternoon.
 
Competing against teams from Texas, the Big 12 Conference, Pac 12 Conference, and Conference USA in the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center, the Bobcats boasted three of the top four runners in the men's and women's 3000-meter races and had top-five finishes in two throwing events at the meet. Texas State had two of the top five throwers in the B-Division of the men's shot put and weight throw.
 
Cade Michael won the men's 3,000-meter race with the fifth-best time in the Sun Belt when he finished the race in 8:42.30. Chase Bracher's time of 8:47.14 placed third in the race and is among the seventh-best times in the Sun Belt. Johen Deleon finished in fourth place with a time of 8:54.15.
 
Riley McGrath won the women's race with a time of 10:27.93, and that is one of the top 10 times in the Sun Belt this season. Esmeralda Fuentes was the runner-up in the race with a time of 10:29.07, and Abby Steinhauser finished in fourth place with a time of 10:40.89.
 
Jaylon Jorge continued his early-season success in the shot put and weight throw when he finished among the top five competitors in both events. Jorge had the Sun Belt's second-best mark in the shot put when he finished in fourth place with a throw of 16.59 meters (54-5.25).
 
He also finished in fifth place with Sun Belt's third-best mark of 19.90 meters (65.3.50) in the weight throw.
 
Ariana Ealy-Pulido had a time of 8.67 seconds in the women's 60-meter hurdles to tie her sister, Kattiana, atop the Sun Belt Conference charts. Alexa Valenzuela posted the Sun Belt's second-best time in the 200 meters when she finished the race in seventh place with a time of 24.49 seconds. In the men's division, Jaylen Allen had the league's sixth-fastest time in the 400 meters with 48.77.
 
Brandon Busby had the Sun Belt's third-best mark in the shot put with 16.10 meters (52-10) to finish in sixth place. He also placed seventh in the weight throw with 17.43 meters (57-2.25).
 
Bobby Smith placed seventh in the shot put with a mark of 15.43 meters (50-7.50), which ranks sixth among Sun Belt leaders.
 
Cameron Steward won the "B" Division of the men's weight throw with the Sun Belt's 10th-best mark of 17.29 meters (56-8.75) and fourth in the "B" Division of the shot put with a throw of 14.84 meters (48-8.25).
 
Dias Redmond finished fourth in the weight throw with 14.93 meters (48-11.75), and Tyler Noles had a fifth-place showing in the "B" Division shot put with a mark of 14.74 (48-4.50).
 
The Bobcats also had seventh-place finishes in the men's mile, women's 4x400-meter relay, men's high jump, and women's long jump.
 
The women's 4x400-meter relay team of Kattiana Ealy-Pulido, Paige Kimble, Sadi Giles, and Ariana Ealy-Pulido finished the race with the Sun Belt's second-fastest time of 3:50.20.
 
Texas State also had two of the top seven finishers in the men's high jump and women's long jump. Naomi Ferdinand had one of the top four long jumps in the Sun Belt when she leaped 5.92 meters (19-5.25). Daniel Chase is one of the league's top five competitors in the high jump after clearing 1.98 meters (6-6).
 
Noah Herring finished ninth in the men's triple jump with one of the Sun Belt Conference's top five leaps of 15.08 meters (49-5.75).
 
Texas State returns to action on Feb. 7-8 when the Bobcats travel to Lincoln, Neb., and compete in the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.