BROOKINGS, S.D. – Day one of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships is in the books and the Mountaineers got off to solid start across several events. The day consisted of heptathlon and pentathlon events as well as relay prelims. Eastern's highlight of the day came in the Women's 4x800 meter relay where the Mounties posted a time of 9:30.11 which was good for sixth overall out of three preliminary heats. The Mounties will return to action tomorrow for day two of the National Championships.
WOMEN
The best action came in the 4x800 thanks to the squad of
Kendall Bonzani,
Katie Jo Gebhardt,
Riley Morris, and
Madelyn Nichols. The team's sixth place standing after the prelims was the best finish of the day and their 9:30.11 time ranks second in the EOU record books.
Eastern also put together a competitive performance in the 4x400 meter relay prelims finishing with a time of 3:55.26.
Morgan Bayes,
Sydney Peck,
Lauryn Mitchell, and
Michelle Herbes had the Mounties at No. 12 in the after three preliminary heats. Their time ranks in the top-five races in program history.
Wrapping up action on the women's side was the Pentathlon where Eastern had two Mounties competing.
Elizabeth Grandle and
Karli Bedard both earned their spot on the national stage. Grandle finished in 15th with 3,086 points followed by Bedard with 3,076 points.
MEN
Similar to the women's side, EOU's strongest performance of the day for the men came in the 4x800. EOU finished at No. 10 in the prelims posting a time of 7:44.84 thanks to the work of
Caleb Brown,
Hunter Nichols,
James Thatcher, and
Jonathan Wind.
Later in the day the Mounties competed in another relay, this time the distance medley prelims. Eastern's
Justin Ash,
Mason Nichols,
Travis Running, and
Cristian Mendoza posted a time of 10:18.81 which put them in 20th place at the conclusion of the prelims. Their time ranks in the top-15 of the EOU record books.
Wrapping up competition for the men was
Israel Miles in the heptathlon. The men got through the first four events, the 60-meter dash, long jump, shot put, and high jump. Miles' best performance came in the shot put where he finished 10th with a throw of 10.93 meters. With three events to go, Miles currently sits in 16th place with a score of 2,445 points.
