The Texas State track and field program finished with 32 top-10 placements and set numerous program records in the Ted Nelson Invitational hosted by Texas A&M at the R.A. “Murray” Fasken ’38 Indoor Track in College Station, Texas. The meet was Texas State’s first of the 2025 season.
The first athlete to place in the top 10 was men’s freshman thrower Manfred Mannamaa. The freshman finished sixth overall in the men’s weight finals, recording a distance of 17.52 meters.
Texas State finished with five athletes inside the top ten for the women’s weight finals. Reigning outdoor national champion in hammer throw Elisabet Runarsdottir placed second overall with a recorded distance of 20.5 meters. Utitofon Sam, Lara Roberts, Melanie Duron and Madison Sloan all placed in the top 10 for Texas State.
Taejha Badal recorded two top-10 finishes at the Ted Nelson Invitational, competing in the finals for both events. Badal placed seventh in the women’s 60-meter prelims with a time of 7.5 seconds and finished sixth out of eight in the finals, recording a time of 7.52 seconds.
Badal ran a personal best time of 23.56 seconds in the women’s 200-meter finals, good for the sixth-fastest time in Texas State history. She finished second overall behind TCU senior Iyana Gray.
Drew Donley placed sixth overall in the men’s 60-meter event and qualified for the finals. With a time of 6.77 seconds in the prelims, Donley was 0.02 seconds away from putting his name in the Texas State record book. In the finals, Donley ran the same time of 6.77 seconds and finished in fourth.
Donley also placed tenth in the men’s 200-meter finals. He ran a time of 21.51 seconds, 0.01 seconds behind Air Force’s Asher Jenkins, who placed ninth.
Transfer distance runner David Serrato placed 10th in the men’s mile event finals. Serrato recorded a time of 4:16.09, finishing 0.16 seconds faster than the 11th-place spot.
Abigail Parra placed second overall in the women’s 3000-meter finals. Her time of 9:41.74 was not only a personal best but the second-fastest in Texas State history for the event.
Jack Deelman, Koket Jimata and Henok Hagos finished in the top 10 for the men’s 3000-meter finals. Deelman (5th overall) and Jimata (6th overall) ran personal best times. Hagos ran a 10th-place time of 8:32.78.
Henry Buckles and Edward Ta’amilo finished inside the top seven for the men’s shot put finals. Buckle finished second with a recorded distance of 18.46 meters, while Ta’amilo placed seventh at 16.22 meters.
Texas State had four athletes inside the top 10 for the women’s shot put finals. Duron, Hannah Kemele, Lauryn Small and Sophia Harberer all finished within the top 1/3 of athletes competing in this event.
In the men’s pole vault event, senior Simon Thor placed top-10 for the Bobcats. Thor tied for the seventh place spot with Air Force’s James Vogel. Both athletes recorded a distance of 4.88 meters.
Sophomore Lamine Sall placed eighth overall in the men’s long jump event. Sall recorded a leap of 6.61 meters to give Texas State another top-10 placement.
Senior Kason O’Riley wound up in the record books after his showing in the men’s high jump event. O’Riley jumped 2.20 meters high, which was a personal best and good enough to break the meet record set in 2022. The 2.20-meter jump also tied the facility record set in Feb. 2024.
In the women’s high jump finals, freshman Raegen Stephenson and Kendall Lemm placed inside the top 10. Stephenson recorded a 1.67-meter jump for eighth place, while Lemm finished ninth with a 1.62-meter jump.
Texas State sophomore Precious Okougbodu placed sixth overall in the women’s triple jump event. Her 12.56-meter leap was good enough for a personal best. As for the men’s triple jump, Damacio Hooks placed sixth overall, while Christian Soungie finished eighth.
The next meet on Texas State’s schedule is the New Mexico Open, which will be held in Albuquerque, NM, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.
