FORT WORTH, Texas (3/19/16) – The Arkansas State track and field teams opened the outdoor season at the TCU Invitational beginning their quest for the Sun Belt Conference outdoor championship.

The Red Wolves competed in the two-day meet against fellow Sun Belt members UT Arlington and Texas State along with Baylor, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, North Texas, Harvard, SMU and Abilene Christian.

“It was a good first meet for us,” said A-State head coach Jim Patchell. “As with indoor, we train though the early meets in preparation for the outdoor championships. Our men's 4 x 1 ran well for this early. Itamar (Levi) and Shemiah (Brooks) were redshirted indoor and did very well in their events, so that's a positive for our team. It's a process balancing training with competition in early season meets. There are areas we need to improve, but we competed well and that was the primary focus.”

The men's 4x100-meter relay team finished second in their race, posting a time of 40.53 seconds. A-State had Elijah Ross, Jaylen Bacon, Roelf Pienaar and Henry Offiah handle the baton. Bacon also competed in the 400-meter dash finishing just outside the top-10 in 11th with a time of 49.62 seconds. The 4x100-meter relay was the lone event for Pienaar, coming off last weekend's ninth place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Junior Itamar Levi, a transfer from Oklahoma State, competed in the shot put and discus throw and posted a pair of third place finishes. Levi debuted for the Red Wolves with a discus throw of 52.18m (171-02), a throw that ranks him eighth in program history. He achieved the third place finish in the shot put with a throw of 17.92m (58-09.50) to rank fifth on the program top-10 lists.

Junior Shemiah Brooks, a transfer from Clemson, made her debut for A-State by competing in triple jump and 100-meter hurdles at TCU. She finished third in the triple jump, leaping 12.29m (40-04.00), the eighth-best jump in program history. In the 100-meter hurdles, Brooks posted a time of 14.19 seconds, just shy of a top-10 mark in program history.

Coming off a championship at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships in the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Jamil Peeples opened the outdoor season with a pair of top-six finishes. Peeples finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 55.13 seconds while he placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (14.62). Freshman Clarence Simpkins joined him inside the top-10 in each event, finishing sixth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.14) and ninth in the 110-meter hurdles (14.74).

Sophomore Tiaan Steenkamp, an all-conference high jumper indoors, cleared 1.95m (6-04.75) to finish fifth. Sophomore Cristian Ravar Laislau finished second in the hammer throw with a launch of 59.05m (193-09), just shy of his season-best last year of 59.24m (194-4).

In the women's throwing events, sophomore Calea Carr accounted for two top-10 finishes while junior Erin Farmer also posted a top-10 mark. Carr finished sixth in the discus throw (48.91m/160-05) and eighth in the hammer throw (47.70m/156-06). Farmer posted her top-10 in the hammer throw with a mark of 46.32m (152-00).

A-State finished the opening meet of outdoor season with a total of 22 top-10 performances with solid performances added by; Erika Christian fourth in 400-meter dash (57.14), Ivery Guyton fifth in high jump (1.68m/5-06.00), Gracee Damron eighth in 400-meter hurdles (1:04.12), Alexandra Pevtsova eighth in pole vault (3.80m/12-05.50), Jonah Wiley eighth in long jump (6.79m/22-1.75), De'Airis Weakley 10th in 400-meter dash (1:00.81), Trevene Cowan 10th in 400-meter hurdles, Emenderlyn Iwuji 10th in long jump (5.36m/17-07.00) and Michael Carr 10th in pole vault (4.75m/15-07.00).

The Red Wolves pause briefly for Arkansas State University's spring break before returning to competition March 25-26 at the Louisiana Classic. The meet takes place on the campus of Sun Belt member Louisiana-Lafayette, host site of the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships (May 13-15).