MOBILE, Ala. – Sean Collins broke a school standard he set less than a month ago, while a relay squad surpassed a mark that had stood for more than a decade, helping lead the University of South Alabama men's track and field team to a first-place finish Saturday at the South Alabama Invitational.

South picked up a total of eight individual victories in all at Jaguar Track, as the men scored 165 points to end up 36 points in front of Mississippi State while the women posted a 110 total to place second 14 points behind Kennesaw State.  There were 11 men's and 13 women's teams competing at the meet, which began on Thursday morning.

"We tend to do well at home, I think this meet was no exception," said USA head coach Paul Brueske.  "We had two school records and a lot of season bests.  Overall it was a good performance, a lot of guys are close to their personal-best marks and that's what you want to see.  I was pleased."

Collins won the men's pole vault, surpassing his own school record in the event after posting a 5.47m mark; it was his fifth victory in as many tries this spring.  

The men's 4x100-meter relay team of Ravaughn Pope, Rafael Scott, Mark Watts and Alex Elam posted a time of 40.85 seconds to win the race; that was .49 seconds faster than the previous standard set in 2004.  Scott added a victory in the 200 meters after recording a career-best 21.11 second clocking as well as a second-place finish in the men's 100-meter dash, crossing the line one-hundreth of a second behind the winner with a mark of 10.43 seconds.

"I was real happy to see the 4x100 relay break that school record, that was nice," Brueske explained.  "That means we've got the best collection of sprinters that South Alabama has ever had.  We also did really well in the shot put and pole vault, it was good to see that."

Renaldo Frechou claimed the men's hammer throw with a toss of 64.03m, coming in ahead of teammates Zach Blahnik and Jan-Louw Kotze; the former was runner-up with a 61.52m mark, the latter fourth after posting a distance of 57.93m.  The Jaguars also had three of the top five finishers in the men's shot put as Kotze (15.90m), Blahnik (15.26m) and Matt Weinhold (15.14m) were second, third and fourth, respectively, with Kotze and Weinhold posting their best throws of the season in the event.

Kotze capped his day with a victory in the discus, with his mark of 59.19m more than five-and-a-half meters better than his next closest competitor.  Weinhold was third in the event with a season-best throw of 47.59m, while Blahnik earned a fourth-place finish.

"We seem to be getting stronger and stronger in that area.  It's come a long way since I arrived at South Alabama," Brueske said of the program's throwers.  "We need to do well there, we have a lot of point potential at the conference level."

Kaitlyn Beans won the women's triple jump for the third time this season with a leap of 12.55m, and Larry Lombard picked up his first career victory in the men's 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 53.57 seconds — just .06 seconds ahead of the runner-up — for his best time this year.

Michaela Preachuk won the women's hammer throw, recording a mark of 53.58m, while LaMia Miller came in second place in the women's shot put with a 14.57m mark that was just .12m behind the winner.  She was also fourth in the hammer throw with a 51.93m toss.

Freshman Lane Adams came in second in the men's javelin with a career-best 61.36m effort, with Charles Collins finishing fourth after a throw of 52.25m.  Jordan Friz paced the Jaguars with a second-place finish in the women's pole vault, with three individuals — Megan James, Kayla Carlile and Ireland Armstrong — all clearing 3.80m; it was a career-best mark for both James and Armstrong, with the former placing fourth in a tiebreaker based on total attempts.

Dominique Gaines came in second place in the women's 400-meter dash with a career-best time of 56.73 seconds, and Marina Swanepoel ended up third in the women's 400-meter hurdles after recording a time of 1:03.03.  Jessica Matthews was third in the women's javelin after posting a mark of 38.95m, while Taylor Dames matched a career-high with a 1.69m height in the high jump en route to a fourth-place result.

In the men's 1,500 meters Katleho Dyoyi posted a time of 3:54.27 seconds, finishing third.  Nathan Reich and Ben Rolader crossed the line fourth and fifth, respectively, with the former being timed in 3:57.37 and the latter 3:59.78.  Pope came in fourth in the men's 110-meter hurdles as well with a clocking of 14.56 seconds.

Niel Giliomee also recorded a career-high mark in the men's pole vault, with his height of 5.22m — good for a third-place finish — moving the sophomore into second on USA's all-time performance list.  With a career-long 6.94m effort, Berron Tyson came in fifth in the men's long jump.

The Jaguars will be in action next weekend when they participate in two meets on opposite sides of the country.  Select individuals will be in La Jolla, Calif., Friday and Saturday for the Triton Invitational, while others will compete at the War Eagle Classic hosted by Auburn on those days.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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