Off and running the indoor track season got underway on Friday for the Highland track team as they competed at the Missouri Intercollegiate meet in Columbia, MO and the season is already off to a strong start with several strong performances along with four National qualify marks.

After working through a delay to get to the meet the Scotties had a strong showing led by two National qualifying marks field events and two more on the track.

For the men it was Jye Gillard who helped set the tone for the day as he beat 18 other competitors posting the only sub 50.00 time in the 400 meter run to win the race behind a time of 49.77. The time based on a venue conversion qualifies Gillard for the NJCAA Indoor National Championships.

Gillard will be joined by his team Dionte Alston who posted a leap of 23'02.75 in the long jump to give him second place on the day and a National qualifying mark. Malik Chatman and Dahndray Holmes also competed in the long jump finishing third (22'09.25) and 10^th (20'07.25), respectively. Holmes also posted a leap of 44'03.25 to finish second in the triple jump.

For the women it was Sedrickia Wynn and Jessica Monroe putting together National qualifying performances. Wynn raced to first place in the 60 meter hurdles posting a time of 9.11 in the finals to win but in qualifying she posted a time of 9.05 which qualifies her for the NJCAA Indoor National Championships. Wynn also took fourth in the 60 meter dash behind a time of 7.86.

Ayesha Nelson had a strong showing in both the 60 meter hurdles and 60 meter dash alongside Wynn finishing second in the hurdles (9.20) and seventh in the 60m dash (7.94). While, Shavonte Harris and Evie Marshall each placed seventh (9.57) and eighth (9.58), respectively in the 60m hurdles.

Monroe who competed at Indoor Nationals in the high jump last year already punched her ticket back this year in just the first meet as she posted a jump of 5'05.75 and earned fifth place in the event.
Both the men and women had plenty of other strong performances on the day at the Missouri Intercollegiate meet.

For the men Mookie Rolle posted a time of 1:24.93 to take third in the 600 meter run, while Jean Dieuvil finished seventh (1:32.54). In the One Mile Run Joshua Camp took fifth place (4:42.33), while Nick Cisneros finished sixth (4:45.98). Cisneros also placed second in the 3000 meter run (9:24.98), that event also saw Deiondre Williams and Liam Jones place fourth (9:44.09) and sixth (10:31.60). In the 200 meter run Robert Weathersby finished seventh (23.00) and in the 60 meter dash Jermaine Wright grabbed third place with a time of 6.93 and Alexander Johnson finished seventh (7.14).

For the ladies Octavia Wright behind a time of 1:47.01 took fourth place in the 600 meter run, while Evelin Santaclara and Leah Wagner finished fifth (2:35.19) and seventh (2:40.88) in the 800 meter run. In the 200 meter run Kilani Harvey paced the Scotties finishing fifth (26.50), while Jameka Chisholm posted an eighth (27.29) place finish.

"Took us a while to get there, but once we got there, we competed very well. Obviously, Coach (Josh) Harden (accepted new job at Southern Arkansas) got these kids ready to compete this fall. It is going to be exciting to see this group develop over this season.  We've got a lot of talent here, and we're seeing it right now. Several close calls on other qualifiers, and several best times already. We'll definitely see that list of qualifiers grow throughout the season! Getting four qualifiers in the first meet is outstanding. Also going out to a meet with great competition and holding our own with a few wins and several places, was great to see. We have some things to work on, but we'll work on them and keep getting better," said Head Track and Field coach, Chad Clevenger about his team's performance in the season opening meet.

Other Scottie Performances
60m dash – Robert Weathersby (13^th place – 7.16)
Jude Murray (17^th place – 7.20)

One Mile Run – Dario Ramirez (12^th place – 5:06.45)
Liam Jones (13^th place – 5:23.51)

Triple jump – Arlet Navarro (11^th place – 34'11)

60m hurdles – Diamond Sullivan (10^th place – 9.78)

60m dash – Kilani Harvey (10^th place – 8.04)
Jameka Chisholm (11^th place – 8.10)
De'Aviance Miller (18^th place – 8.48)

200m run – Evie Marshall (12^th place – 28.02)
Diamond Sullivan (13^th place – 28.44)
De'Aviance Miller (14^th place – 28.52)
Shavonte Harris (16^th place – 28.97)