BIRMINGHAM, Ala.. – The Lee University men's indoor track and field team came in second place at the Gulf South Conference indoor track and field championship on Wednesday afternoon. The Flames earned 185 points just ten points behind champion Mississippi College. Cale Kassen earned most outstanding performance of the meet on the male side.
 
Matthew Fowler opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 5000-meter run finishing it in 14:21.95. The second final of day one had the Flames coming in second in the distance medley relay. The team of Ryan Lovelace, Nokia Masengu, Titus Lagat, and Evan Moore finished the race in 9:53.61.
 
The first final one day one of the men's field was Camden Williams coming in third in the shot put with a best throw of 15.57 meters. In the next throwing event, Matthew Black came in second in the weighted throw with a toss of 17.16 meters. 
 
Cale Kassen won the high jump as he was able to clear 1.99 meters. Roberto Fajardo came in third in the one mile run with a time of 4:13.84. In the first sprint event, Justin Steele came in third with a time of 48.20.
 
Kassen won his second event of day two when he took the 60-meter hurdle finals with a time of 7.85 setting a GSC record in the process. Titus Lagat had the next win for the Flames. He set a conference record with a time of 1:52.44 in the 800-meter run. Steele then took second in the 200-meter dash finishing it in 21.59.
 
The Flames finished second and third in the 3000-meter run. Aaron Himes and Matthew Fowler both completed the race with times of 8:15.98 and 8:16.23 respectively. The final race of the meet was the 4X400 meter relay. The team of Maengu, Lagat, Doniven Jackson, and Steele took home the title with a GSC record of 3:14.67.
 
Head Coach Caleb Morgan was very happy with the result. "It was a very good meet. We got points when we needed them We got big wins in the 3K and the 200. The 4X400 was awesome to be able to finish it out. We knew we would have a battle all weekend. We will take this learn from it and motivate us for outdoor conference meet which we get to host! That is one we definitely want to win. Cale Kassen did an incredible job this week. He picked up a couple of events and led the team. Can't wait to see what he does at the national level."
 
Kassen scored 29 points and won three events for the Flames. He came in first place in the 60-meter hurdles and high jump. He was fourth in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump.
 
The Flames will compete in the Boston University Last Chance Meet on February 26. Then they will head to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championship in Virginia Beach, Virginia on March 10-11.