GAINESVILLE, Fla.— The Montreat men's and women's track & field teams were down in Gainesville, Fla. on Thursday for the start of the U.S. Marines NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Competing in four prelims on day one, the Cavaliers notched two school records while qualifying for finals in a trio of events.
Wyatt Wilson got the Cavs started early this afternoon with the men's 3000m race walk prelims. The Shelby, N.C. native ended in 19
th out of 25 participants with his time of 16:26.30. Wilson's performance did not qualify for Friday's finals.
Heather Murphy raced next, representing Montreat in the women's 5000m prelims. The Portarlington, Ireland native utilized a time of 17:18.66 to finish third among the 19-runner field. Murphy's performance proved good enough for automatic qualification to the 5k finals on Saturday.
Ali Ray was entered but did not start in the event.
The Cavaliers' final two efforts on Thursday not only landed qualification to finals, but also bested previous school records. In the men's 5000m prelims,
Ethan Stamey topped his own mark by 1.28 seconds. A native of Franklin, N.C., Stamey placed fifth out of 22 with a time of 14:37.41. Meanwhile,
Brooke Wiebe,
Yessenia Castellanos,
Macy Parks and
Dylan Garcia combined to shatter the program record in the women's distance medley relay. The group topped the previous time by 8.61 seconds, registering a 12:05.01 to finish seventh of 20 and book a spot in Saturday's finals.
For a look at results from day one of the U.S. Marines NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships, click
here.
Montreat is back in action tomorrow at the national meet with three more events—the women's long jump, the women's one mile and the women's 1000m.
