The Webster University men's and women's track and field teams sent 11 athletes to participate in the Rhodes Invitational Meet in Memphis, TN, on March 27.  Over 20 colleges from the Midwest and South entered the meet, with Webster continuing to show improvement in individual times and placing.  

Jessica Parkman (FR, Peru HS, IN) led the way for the women, placing 20th out of 37 in the 1500M run and 13th out of 27 in the 800M run.  Teammate Lesley Rankin (FR, Gateway Institute of Technology, STL) finished 14th out of 32 in the shot put.  Marissa Gibbs (JR, Springfield HS, IL) finished 16th out of 25 in the long jump.

On the men's side Aaron Oberneufemann (FR, Mt. Olive HS, IL) finished seventh out of 15 in the high jump, while #A.J. Wallace# (FR, Warrenton HS, MO) finished seventh out of 19 in the triple jump and 14th out of 27 in the long jump.  The men's 4 X 800 relay team finished 10th in 8:46.64.  

Coach Dusty Lopez said "This meet was a good introduction to the larger fields and more competitive events that we will see for the rest of the year.  I was pleased to see all of our athletes responded so well with almost everyone we took either setting or equaling a personal best. 

In addition, a couple of our guys placed, which is big for us in such a large meet.  Last year, we struggled to score points in even the smaller meets.  It was good for team chemistry, too.  Taking an overnight trip helps build spirit and gets people feeling like a team, so we enjoyed it."

View the complete results and times for the Rhodes Invitational at: http://www.rhodeslynx.com/documents/2010/3/27/Rhodes_Invite_2010_results.pdf?id=1503

The Gorloks don't have far to travel in their next meet, participating in the Washington University Invitational on April 2-3.