POCATELLO, Idaho - Jan. 19 - Southern Utah senior DeWayne Lewis highlighted SUU's efforts at the Snake River Invitational, finishing first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.88. The Thunderbirds finished second in five other events as Southern Utah opened the indoor track and field season.

Lewis' time matched his own school record that he set last season.

"We did really well this weekend," head coach Eric Houle said of the team. "We are way ahead of where we were last year."

Eric Hendricks picked up one of the runner-up finishes, crossing the line in the 400-meter dash with a second-place time of 49.19. Jared Beuker finished second in the men's heptathlon with a score of 3863. Teammate Brent Springall was close behind in third, finishing with 3317 points.

Dave Sheeran and Nate Houle finished second and third in the 800-meter run as each crossed the line with times of 1:56.58 and 1:56.74, respectively.

Shain Manuele turned in a third-place performance in the men's 60-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 9.87. Chase Pendley also turned in a third-place time in the 200-meter dash, crossing the line in 22.52.

Mark Currell (mile, fifth, 4:22.57) and Shaka Richardson (60m, fifth, 7.12) rounded out the men's final top-five finishes.

On the women's side, Sharae Hill narrowly missed a first-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.83. Recent NCAA cross country participant, Sharla Platt, turned in a second-place finish in the mile run with a time of 5:06.09.

Platt recorded her second top-four finish with a fourth-place time of 10:09.05 in the 3,000-meters. Tiffany Lindstrom also turned in a double top-five performance, finishing fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.18) and fourth in the pentathlon with a score of 3181.

Haley Bice (200m, fifth, 26.01) and Christina Day (400m, 4th, 58.76) rounded out the final top-five finishes on the women's side.

Southern Utah will return to action on January 25 when the Thunderbirds travel to Flagstaff, Arizona for the NAU Invitational.