MARION, Ind.— The Montreat men's and women's track & field teams participated in the initial day of competition at the 2024 NAIA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Wednesday at Indiana Wesleyan University. With five entries, including one final, the Cavaliers earned an All-American performance as Ali Ray garnered accolades in the 10,000m event.
 
Emma Barnes began the day with the first four events of the heptathlon competition. In the 100m hurdles, Barnes finished 13^th to collect 775 points with her time of 15.51 seconds before tying for 15^th in the high jump and adding 577 points by clearing 1.46m. The sophomore bounced back with a sixth-place result in the shot put after a personal-best 11.31m throw to amass 616 more points and ended her opening day with 839 points in the 200m dash thanks to a time of 25.53 seconds, which was the fifth-fastest. Overall, Barnes ranked 10^th of 16 competitors with 2,807 total points through four of the seven events.
 
The Cavalier relay teams then participated in semi-finals as the men's 4x100m relay and women's 4x800m relay both ran. The group of Juan Arce, Dustin Blevins, Cameron Rice and Kaleel Stevenson finished 17^th of 29 entries following a time of 41.07 seconds in the 4x100m. After the men's event, the relay of Yessenia Castellanos, Dylan Garcia, Kilia Hasty and Emily Standifer also notched the 17^th-quickest time, 9:28.02, out of 22 teams attempting to qualify for the final.
 
Two more track events rounded out the performances as Dylan Branch competed in the men's 3,000m steeplechase prelims and Ray ran in the team's lone final of the day, the women's 10,000m event. Branch guaranteed himself a spot in Friday's steeplechase final by clinching the 12^th qualifying time, a 9:17.02, in the semi-final.
 
Ray wrapped up the events for the Cavs with the longest running event of the meet, making her race count by securing a top-eight placement. The graduate student grabbed All-American honors, crossing in seventh position with a time of 36:53.77, breaking her own school record while adding two team points to Montreat's score on the women's side.
 
"Going into the race I just wanted to have fun. This season hasn't been the easiest so I wanted to embrace the fun of this race. It's a really hard race because it's 25 laps but having everyone on the team in my corner was important. I didn't do it for me- I put my best foot forward for them," noted Ray.
 
For updated results from the national championships, click here.
 
The Cavaliers now compete in five events on Thursday, beginning with the final four events of the heptathlon scheduled to start at 11 a.m.