ATLANTA, Ga.- History was made Saturday afternoon when the Clayton College & State University men's and women's track teams each finished second at the Oglethorpe Invitational, marking the first time either Clayton State team placed so high in the team standings.

The Lakers and Lady Lakers tallied 69 and 104 points, respectively, and trailed only Oglethorpe, which won both competitions. Among the teams Clayton State defeated were Armstrong Atlantic State, Georgia Southern, West Georgia, Lander, and Kennesaw State.

"We went for the points today and scored a bunch with just four runers on each team," said Clayton State head coach Mike Mead. "We wanted our folks to get a good workout in this low-key meet and have some fun at the same time. This type of meet should prepare everyone for the final two meets of the season where they will run in only their specialty events."

For the women, Aidita Gibson won three different individual events, including the 400m, l00m , and 200m dashes. Jan Trainor finished second in the long jmnp and 200m dash, and third in the 400m and 100m. Mary Schwerdt racked up a pair of second place finishes in the 400m and 1,500m, while Jessica LeRoy came in fourth in the 1,500m.

The Lady Laker relay teams won the 4x800m, and firlished second in the 4x100m and 4x400m events."Aidita and Jan got the brunt of the workload today," remarked Mead. "Both were able to try some other events and placed in every one entered. Jan competed in seven events while Aidita was in six. That's a pretty busy day considering the meet lasted just four and a half hours."

On the men's side, Levi Myers captured the long jump event and tallied third place finishes in the 100m and 200m dashes. In the 400m dash, the Lakers had three of the top five finishers in Tye Walker (2nd), Steven Parrish (3rd) and Travis Robertson (5th).
Walker and Parrish also came in third and fourth in the 1,500m, respectively.

In the relay events, the four Laker runners picked up a second in the 4x100m, a third in the 4x800m, and a fourth in the 4x400m races.

"Steven Parrish continues to show improved speed this year," said Mead. "He helped Tye in the 1,500m and ran strong legs on our 4x800 and 4x400 relays. Levi Myers got a good taste of track, competing in just his second collegiate meet of his career. He set a little Clayton State history by competing in our first-ever field event and witming it. He was Mr. Utility Man today."

Parrish, Walker, Trainor, Gibson and Schwerdt will travel next Saturday to Edwardsville, Ill., the longest road-trip for CCSU running since the 1996 NAIA cross country nationals, for the Cougar Twilight meet at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. SIU-Edwardsville is the host of the NCAA Division II outdoor nationals next month.