Texas Lutheran opens indoor season with No. 19 preseason team ranking

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Men's Indoor Track & Field received a preseason national ranking of 19th from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

 

The Bulldogs, led by national-title contenders Darren Jones (60 meters) and Garrett Garza (shot put), received 38.85 points in the USTFCCCA's preseason ranking system.

 

The Bulldogs start the 2020 indoor season this Saturday in Houston at the FasTrak Collegiate Invitational, held at the University of Houston.

 

Jones finished third in the 60 meters at the 2019 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Boston. He posted a school-record time of 6.83 seconds in the championship final and claimed All-America honors. Jones missed out on a national championship by 0.03 of a second.

 

Garza took eighth overall in the indoor shot put with a toss of 55 feet, 2 inches. Garza also grabbed an All-America award.

 

Garza used his success in the indoor season to achieve even greater success in the outdoor season. Garza finished as the national runner-up in the shot put at the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Geneva, Ohio. Garza tossed the shot a new school record 58 feet, 5.25 inches at the outdoor championships.

 

Garza's outdoor season was his fourth and final year as an outdoor collegiate student-athlete, but he does have one final year of indoor eligibility remaining. He will use that final indoor year this season. David Kornack of Wisconsin-Eau Claire won both the indoor and outdoor shot put national championships last year, but Kornack completed his four years of collegiate eligibility in 2019.