RESULTS

HOUSTON -- Matt Perri smashed the HBU men's indoor 5,000-meters record and Morgan Pressley added a pair of school records in the women's horizontal jumps Friday to lead the Houston Baptist track and field squads to their best season-opener ever at the Leonard Hilton Memorial meet at the University of Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse.

Perri won the 25-lap race in 14:48.68 to slice almost 12 seconds off the previous Husky best of 15:00.25, set in 2010 by Maximo Mendoza. Pressley finished fourth overall in the long jump with a best of 5.71 meters/18-9 to add more than six inches to her existing HBU record, and she also triple jumped 11.41m/37-5.25 to take sixth and  improve her own school record by almost five inches.

"This is without a doubt the best meet we have ever had to open an indoor season," said head coach Theresa Fuqua. "In addition to the numerous school records set, we had a bunch of very impressive efforts that show we are a far better team than in the past five years."

Jade Penick uncorked the first record performance of the day with her 16.06m/52-8.25 in the 20-pound weight throw to place sixth, and Jessica Whitt slashed her lifetime best in the mile to 5:01.65 to take fourth and knock almost seven seconds off the record set by Raquel Tidwell in 2010.

Pressley also anchored the Huskies to a 3:57.01 to win their section of the 4x400 and place sixth overall. Whitt helped the distance medley relay to fourth place at 12:38.38.

In other men's track events, Anthony Aguinaga was fourth in the mile at 4:20.13 and LaDarien Harris was fifth in the 200 at 23.05. The distance medley relay took third, while the 4x400 was sixth with a solid 3:25.90 to win their heat.

Freshman Garrison Fick spanned 13.93m/45-8.5 for sixth in the triple jump and Jake Adkins was fifth in the shot put with a toss of 15.00m/49-2.5. Jarrett Gilliam nabbed sixth in the 35-pound weight throw with an effort of 15.35/50-4.5.

HBU returns to the track next Friday and Saturday at Houston's Howie Ryan Invitational.