BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Freshman Iliass Aouani ran in and took the Southland Conference by storm while a battered women’s team stepped up and outdid expectations in the final day of the Southland Conference Indoor Championships where the Lamar University track and field teams competed at the Birmingham CrossPlex Tuesday.

The Cardinal men’s team, led behind the league’s high point scorer Iliass Aouani, finished in fifth place with 82 points and the women’s team took fourth on 63 points. Sam Houston State took the league crown on both sides, followed by Abilene Christian on the women’s side and Southeastern Louisiana on the men’s side.

Aouani won Lamar’s third-straight SLC High Point Scorer honor, fifth overall, after he claimed the 3,000-meter race title with an 8:12.97 mark. He was also the third-straight league 3K champion to hail from LU.

“He’s unbelievable. He just took care of business every time he was on the track,” said head coach Trey Clark. “He was always in control and dictated what happened around him.  It was a lot of fun to watch him work.”

The way he won the 3K was in stark contrast to how he to the 5,000 meter event on Monday.

“He led wire-to-wire (Tuesday), which was opposite of what he did (Monday),” said Clark. “In the 5K, he sat back and paced that one before he took it. It is hard to beat a guy who can win both ways.”