LUBBOCK, Texas – Senior distance runner Mercy Rotich was victorious in the 3000-meter final to lead the Eastern New Mexico women's track and field team to a fourth place finish at the Lone Star Conference Indoor Championships at the Texas Tech Performance Center on Sunday.

The women's team totaled 61.5 points, finishing 1.5 points above Dallas Baptist in fifth and 15 points ahead of Tarleton State in sixth.

Rotich came away with gold when she crossed the finish line in 10:25.14, beating out Dallas Baptist's Leah Lewis by 1.53 seconds. It was the second time in the championship meet that Rotich reached the podium after she took home a third place finish in the 5000-meter event on Saturday.

Danee Bustos was one of several Hounds to break program records on the day, topping her own record in the 200-meter dash final with a time of 24.40 to come away with second. She improved upon her program record by 0.05 seconds while also climbing up the NCAA Division II Championship ranks with her new time ranking 14^th in all of Division II. Bustos also scored some team points with a sixth-place time of 57.09 in the 400-meter and a fifth-place mark of 1.60-meters in the high jump.

In the final women's event of the day, Bustos along with Kandice Miles, Kiana Covington, and Mason Swanson broke the program record in the 4x400-meter relay with a sixth-place time of 3:54.92. The four woman team toppled the previous record that was set at last week's Don Kirby Invitational.

Miles also came away with a provisional qualifying mark in the 200-meters, as her fifth-place time of 24.69 set the 29^th fastest time in NCAA Division II. Maijah Mathis also set a provisional qualifying mark, finishing right behind Miles in sixth with a 24.76 for the 35^th fastest time in the country and improving upon her third-fastest time in ENMU history.

Mathis also broke her own school record in the 60-meter final with a time of 7.67 to take fifth in the event. She improved upon her ENMU record of 7.70 that she set in the preliminaries on Saturday.

Swanson found herself on the podium in the 800-meter run for the second straight year after turning in a second place time of 2:17.17. The mark set Swanson's career-best time in the 800-meter while also landing the fifth-fastest time in the program's record book.

In the pole vault, freshman Kayla Stephens came away with fourth after completing a 3.23-meter (10' 7") vault, setting the second-best mark in program history, just 0.03-meters behind Hannah Cabeldue's record set last season.

In the shot put, Bryanna Williams came away with an 11.82-meter (38' 9 ½") throw, setting the third-best mark in program history ahead of her ENMU graduate assistant coach Adilene Adame.

On the men's side, the Greyhounds came away with eight after scoring 22 points in the meet.

Junior middle distance runner Ivar Moinat reached the podium for the Greyhounds after coming away with a third place finish in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:51.01. Moinat's time was just 0.01 seconds behind his ENMU record as he currently holds the 10^th fastest time in NCAA Division II.

However, Moinat was not done as he was a part of a record breaking performance later in the day when the 4x400-meter relay team consisting of Moinat, Travonne Armstead, Brandon Chavez, and Andrew Villegas broke their own program record after totaling a 3:15.98 to come away with fifth. The four man team passed their own record of 3:17.10 set at the Texas Tech Open earlier in the season.

In the heptathlon, Ezra Bagwell improved upon his program record after scoring 4537 points to place ninth, topping his previous best of 4509 set in last year's indoor championships. His strongest event was the 1000-meters, finishing in fourth with a time of 2:49.32 and scoring 773 points.

After setting the second-best mark in the ENMU record book in the 200-meter preliminaries yesterday, Villegas continued to build upon it with a mark of 21.86 to place sixth in the championship final.

In the men's mile, Shane Walsh ran a season-best 4:23.85 to place fourth and scoring the ENMU men's team five points while also placing ninth in the 3000-meter with a time of 8:59.59.

While the indoor season has come to a close for the team, Bustos and Moinat will await to see if they will be selected to the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship field. If they qualify, they will compete at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kan. on March 8-9.

Competitor Summary

*denotes ENMU record

^denotes NCAA provisional qualifying mark