WACO, Texas. (4/9/16) – The Arkansas State track and field program competed at the Baylor Invitational Saturday and junior thrower Erin Farmer along with the women's 4x400-meter relay squad set new school records in their respective events.

“Really proud of how our team competed,” said A-State head coach Jim Patchell. “The highlight of the meet was Erin's big throw in the shot put which not only set the school record, but ranks her No. 5 in the nation. Our women's 4 x 4 team also broke a 26 year old school record in that event. The weather wasn't ideal with rain and shifting winds, but we handled that well and are looking forward to a weekend off before heading to Auburn.”

For the third-straight week, junior Erin Farmer established a new record in the shot put. This week though, Farmer climbs to the top-five nationally with a mark of 17.23m (56-06.50). The throw broke the Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium record and betters her previous personal best of 15.86m (52-00.50). Farmer also posted a sixth place finish in the hammer throw (51.51m/169-00).

The women's 4x400-meter relay squad broke the program record with a time of 3:44.40 to finish fourth in the tightly contested field. Freshman Gracee Damron, sophomore Keturah Smith and juniors Samone Thompson and Erika Christian comprised the relay team Saturday. The record time breaks the previous school record of 3:45.07 set in 1992.

Junior Roelf Pienaar competed in the long jump for the first time outdoors this year and earned a first place finish. He posted a leap of 7.41m (24-03.75), a mark that gets him in the top-three among Sun Belt Conference student-athletes. A-State picked up a pair of top-10 finishes in the women's long jump with junior Shemiah Brooks (5.64m/18-06.00) finishing fourth and Samone Thompson (5.60m/18-04.50) sixth.

In the pole vault, the A-State freshmen continued to shine for the Red Wolves. Sam Bell took first place with a vault of 5.05m (16-06.75) while Michael Carr was sixth with a vault of 4.80m (15-09.00). On the women's side, senior Alexandra Pevtsova finished third (3.90m/12-09.50).

Sophomore Cristian Ravar Ladislau won the hammer throw with distance of 58.78m (192-10) while also finishing 10th in the shot put with a mark of 14.82m (48-07.50). Junior Itamar Levi was the top collegiate finisher, second overall, with a shot put of 18.20m (59-08.50), a throw that ranks fourth-best in program history. Levi also picked up a second place finish in the discus throw (52.82m/173-03).

Sophomore David Phillips finished second in the javelin throw with one of the top-five throws in program history. Phillips posted a throw of 56.27m (184-07) to rank fourth all-time at A-State, the best javelin throw mark since Ethan Turpen (56.95m) in 2011. Freshman Dalton Romero joined Phillips in the top-10 of the event as he placed sixth with a throw of 46.89m (153-10).

The Red Wolves jumped to a combined three top-10 finishes among the men's and women's high jump. Sophomore Tiaan Steenkamp cleared 2.05m (6-08.75) to finish second on the men's side while sophomore Darragh May was second in the women's event with a clearance of 1.67m (5-05.75). Sophomore Ivery Guyton rounded out the top-10 performances, placing sixth with a mark of 1.62m (5-03.75).

On the track, A-State picked up four more top-10 finishes among the 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash and the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Sophomore Kristina Knott finished third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.62 seconds and Shemiah Brooks came in sixth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.24 seconds. Keturah Smith placed eighth in the 400-meter dash (55.09) and sophomore Trevene Cowan finished ninth in the 400-meter hurdles.

Several of the Red Wolves' distance runners traveled to St. Louis for the SLU Biliken Invitational. Freshman Kyandra Chandler earned two top-three finishes, claiming the top finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase (11:47.57) and third place in the 5,000-meter run (18:19.13). Freshman Rebecca Eldein was on the heels of Chandler in both events as she finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:03.59) and fourth in the 5,000-meter run (18:55.82). Sophomore Arnica Zitting also earned a top-10 finish, crossing the line sixth in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 37:26.02.

On the men's side in St. Louis, A-State picked up five top-10 finishes. Freshman Zach Rail logged a third place time of 10:02.16 in the 3,000-meter run and a ninth-place finish of 15:44.96 in the 5,000-meter run. Freshman Ethan Clark placed second in the 10,000-meter run (33:26.10) with freshman Josh Kruse just behind (33:32.09) for third. Senior Jesse Duvall joined Rail in the top-five of the 3,000-meter run as he finished fourth in 10:08.46.

A-State is next scheduled to compete the weekend of April 22-23. Most of the A-State student-athletes will compete at the War Eagle Invitational while several throwers will compete at the Triton Invitational (UC-San Diego) and several distance runners travel to the Mt. SAC relays in Norwalk, Calif.