By KYLE ROBERTS

Sports Writer

Despite two hours of showers and a short delay, Tech's track teams had another solid day with multiple first-place finishes and a broken school record on Saturday at the Ole Miss Invitational in Oxford, Miss.

"The conditions were terrible," Tech's track and field head coach Gary Stanley said, "but the kids went out there and said forget the elements, we're going to go. That's what you have to learn to do."

A heavy rain storm moved into Oxford during the mid-morning and caused track events to be delayed until the afternoon while field events were mostly cancelled. After the rain lightened up, the water was brushed off the track enough to run.

"I thought the kids, who made lemonade out of lemons, did very well," Stanley said. "I was very proud of their efforts."

Two standouts on the day were Nina Gilbert and David Phillips. Gilbert broke a school record with a mark of 54.09 seconds in the women's 400-meter dash, while Phillips posted a mark of 1:50.40 in the men's 800.

Both were first-place finishes and regional qualifying marks, and Stanley was very pleased with both times.

"What can you say?" Stanley said. "They both ran very well, and I'm very happy with what happened."

In the week before, Tech competed in the 110th Penn Relays in Philadelphia on April 21.

"The Penn Relays were tremendous," Stanley said. "How great was it to hear Tech mentioned repeatedly on NBC while competing in front of 49,800 people and have your name called out over the P.A. It was incredible. The people we took did well, and overall it was a great deal."

The women's 400-meter relay team, consisting of Shandra Freeman, Crystlle Church, Doria Appleberry and Latoina Wilson, set a new school record with a time of 44.36 to finish fourth in the Championship of America finals. The time was also a regional qualifying mark.

Western Athletic Conference indoor triple jump champion Ayanna Alexander posted a mark of 41 feet, 8.5 inches to place fifth in the championship flight, while Tech's men's distance relay team finished fourth with a time of 10:05.43.

The next day the men's 3,200-meter relay team finished with a time of 7:31.76, the second fastest time in school history, to place second in the heat and 12th overall.

Tech also sent athletes to the ULM Indian Classic in Monroe Saturday, where Bridgette Ladouceur ran a 55.84 in the 400 to finish second.

"It was a great experience for the kids to have that much exposure," Stanley said. "I was very excited about the whole thing."

Other notables were Greg Doughty finishing first place in the javelin with a throw of 174 feet, while Roland Moore (10.60) and Troy Lewis (10.67) finished in the top four in the men's 100.

The track teams will be in preparation for the WAC Championships in Houston on May 13 this week.