GULF SHORES, Ala.— At the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships on Thursday, the Montreat track & field teams notched another slew of outstanding marks as seven different athletes competed across five competitions and the men's team tallied their first points of the meet.
 
In the Cavs' first event of the day, Montreat's 4x800m relay team placed fourth in its heat and 11^th overall in the prelims. The squad, consisting of Caleb Silver, Nathan Stamey, Dylan Branch and Ruchen Blaauw, just missed out on qualification for the final by four seconds as the Cavaliers crossed in 7:39.11, only 0.51 seconds slower than the school record.
 
After a delay from lightning, Hank Yelton restarted competition in his decathlon endeavor as he completed the latter five decathlon events. Following the conclusion of the 10^th and final event, Yelton amassed 6,127 points, the ninth-most points of the decathletes.
 
In the 110m hurdles, Yelton ran the fifth-fastest time of the 17 competitors, breaking the line in 15.68 seconds to earn 769 points. He threw 29.88m for 462 points in the discus prior to clearing the 11^th-best pole vault mark at 3.80m for 562 points. Wrapping up his 10-event meet, Yelton threw the javelin 42.09m (13^th, 472 points) and ran the 1,500m in 4:39.19 for 685 points (third place). Sitting in 14^th through nine events, Yelton utilized his phenomenal 1,500m time to jump up five spots in the final standings, trailing eighth place by 85 points.
 
Dustin Blevins had the top performance of any Cavalier on the second day of action with his leaps in the men's long jump. Needing a top-8 mark to advance to the final entering his third attempt, the King, N.C. native used a jump of 7.41m to qualify for the final round and secure All-American status. Blevins, who was also an All-American in the event during the indoor season, went on to take fourth place in the event after improving his mark to 7.50m on his last attempt. His podium finish earned Montreat its first five team points of the national championships.
 
In the men's 800m prelims, Caleb Silver tallied the fourth-fastest time of his heat and the 14^th quickest time overall. Silver clocked a time of 1:53.70 in the event.
 
Jessica Gakeri rounded out the events for the Cavaliers on day two with an effort in the women's triple jump. The freshman leapt to the seventh-longest mark in her flight and the 18^th-best jump overall thanks to her 11.64m result.
 
For the full results from the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, click here.
 
Track and field ends its three-day journey at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships with the final day of action tomorrow beginning with the half marathon at 7:00 a.m.