BATON ROUGE – Enrique Soto got the 2016 track and field indoor season off to a memorable start here Friday night at the LSU Purple Tiger as the junior distance runner from Dubberly took the gold medal in the men's 3,000-meter run for his first collegiate win in the event.
 
Soto, who ran a time of 8:57.80, was followed up by junior Fisher Hamilton of Lake Charles who placed fourth in the event with a time of 9:02.98.
 
The Cowboys and Cowgirls had a handful of athletes post top eight finishes in the season-opening meet.
 
John Lemke, a junior long jumper from Lake Charles, place third in the event with a mark of 23-feet, 10 ¼-inches.
 
On the women's side, junior sprinter Maegan Moore finished fourth in the 200-meters with a time of 25.49 and ran a leg on the 4x400-meter relay team, along with Maya Tunwar, Victoria Martin and Kristian Ojunta, that finished eighth out of 18 entries with a time of 4:06.44.
 
Martin added an eighth place finish in the 400-meters with a time of 59.46.
 
The Cowboys and Cowgirls will be back in action next Friday when they take part in the Aggie Team Invitational, a meet that will be broadcast live on the SEC Network Plus online site.
 
Cowgirl Finishes:
200m: Maegan Moore, 4^th, 25.49; Victoria Martin, 15^th, 26.19; Ayanna Weeks, 41^st, 27.98.
400m: Victoria Martin, 8^th, 59.46.
1-Mile: Kaitlyn Jeter, 15^th, 5:47.38; Emily Mouton, 19^th, 6:11.51.
4x400m relay: Moore, Tunwar, Martin, Kristian Ojunta, 8^th, 4:06.44.
Pole Vault: Katie Thornton, 11^th, 11-03.
Long Jump: Maya Tunwar, 16^th, 17-02.25; Grace McKenzie, 29^th, 15-07.75; Nina Radisavljevic, 30^th, 15-06; Kristian Ojonta, 30^th, 15-06; Breyauna Jackson, 35^th, 14-03.25.
Shot Put: RaKira Turner, 13^th, 40-10.25.
Weight Throw: RaKira Turner, 16^th, 49-05.75.
 
Cowboy Finishes:
200m: Tyler Smith, 17^th, 23.05; Trace Trosclair, 17^th, 23.07; Connor Trevino, 22^nd, 23.55; Morgan Smith, 26^th, 24.23; Jaylen Goodly, 27^th, 24.45.
400m: Blake Comeaux, 15^th, 52.13.
800m: Olandis Johnson, 9^th, 2:10.18; Anderson Yego, 11^th, 2:17.62.
3,000m: Enrique Soto, 1^st, 8:57.80; Fisher Hamilton, 4^th, 9:02.98; Matthew Myers, 23^rd, 11:01.49.
4x400m Relay: Comeaux, Trosclair, Lemke, Smith, 10^th, 3:37.33.
Pole Vault: Landon Dore, 11^th, 15-00.00
Long Jump: John Lemke, 3^rd, 23-10.25; Steven Benjamin, 26^th, 19-09.50; Zach Dibbern, 29^th, 17-07; Kartavius Hamilton, 31^st, 15-01.50.
Shot Put: Kyle Zenon, 9^th, 49-11.25.