KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamores.com

BLOOMINGTON, IND. ? The Indiana State track and field team began two-days of competition at the Indiana Relays on Friday with three Sycamores posting wins on the first day of competition.

Indiana State's Kacie Klem was one of two winners for the Sycamore women on Friday, taking the mile with a winning time of 5:08.30. ISU's Kelsie Slater finished fourth (5:13.54) and Kayla Alexander sixth (5:14.88) in the mile.

Amanda Barlage was also a winner, claiming first in the Open Pole Vault with a winning height of 11-feet-05.75 (3.50 meters).

ISU's Major Clay was the lone winner for the Sycamore men, winning the high jump for the second time in three tries during the current indoor season. Clay had a winning leap of 6-feet-08.75 (2.05). Indiana State's Curt Sunderland finished seventh and Brandon Youngdale eighth, both going 6-feet-06.75 (2.00 meters).

Annie Beasley finished second in the high jump for the Indiana State women with a leap of 5-feet-6 (1.68 meters), finishing just behind Purdue's Emily Breslin who won the event with a leap of 5-feet-8 (1.73 meters). Nicole Snearley finished 12th in the event at 5-feet-00.25 (1.53 meters).

Steven Swinford finished third in the Men's Open Pole Vault competition with height of 15-feet-5 (4.70 meters) with Jeremy Pratt sixth at 14-feet-11 (4.55 meters) and Tucker Field 11th at 13-feet-11.25 (4.25 meters).

Three other events were completed on Friday with Heather Stembridge placing eighth in the women's 3000 meter Invitational with a time of 10:15.26 and Michael Disher finishing sixth in the men's 3000 meter Invitational with a time of 8:39.39. Sean Wright placed third in the men's 400 meter Invitational with a time of 48.70.

The women's distance medley relay team of Kelsie Slater, Katie Weber, Kristy Twitchell and Kayla Alexander finished in sixth with a time of 12:42.72 while the men's distance medley relay team of Scott Koressel, Tykeen Fulton, Jeremy Brown and Cody Siblisk placed fifth with a time of 10:33.37.

In the 60 meter preliminaries run on Friday, ISU's Jeanne' Middleton advanced in the women's dash with the third best time in the preliminary heats of 7.65. ISU's Jaquelle Spencer missed qualifying by just seven-hundredths of a second, finishing 17th in 7.90. In the men's race, Daryl Truitt advanced with an eighth place finish in 6.93. Truitt also advanced to the 200 meter finals with a 10th place finish in 22.36.

The Sycamore women advanced two to the 400 meter finals as Mary Kate Conway finished ninth in the preliminaries in 57.81 and Rachel Posey finished 11th with a time of 48.08.

Kaci Smith advanced in the women's 600 meters, placing fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 1:35.41 while Anthony Bertoli advanced in the men's 600 meters by finishing second in the preliminaries with a time of 1:20.52. ISU's James Twitchell advanced in the men's 800 meters after finishing second in the preliminaries with a time of 1:54.66.

Erica Moore and Sarah Snapp advanced in the women's 60 meter hurdles, Moore placing eighth in the preliminaries with a time of 8.93 and Snapp 16th with a time of 9.20. Michael Roberts and Tykeen Fulton both advanced in the men's 60 meter hurdles, Roberts 10th in the preliminaries with a time of 8:34 and Fulton 12th with a time of 8.40.

Lauren Martin advanced to Saturday's finals in two events, placing second in the long jump preliminaries at 19-feet-08.25 (6.00 meters) and second in the triple jump preliminaries at 40-feet-11.5 (12.48 meters). In the men's triple jump, Ernest Rollins placed third in the preliminaries at 47-feet-04.25 (14.43 meters) to advance.

All three competitors in both the women's and men's weight throw advanced to Saturday's finals. Kelsey Hanley was third at 47-fet-10.5 (17.64 meters), Kortney Unger ninth at 47-feet-09.75 (14.57 meters) and Autumn Sowders 10th at 47-feet-02.5 (14.39 meters) to advance in the women's weight throw. Josh Williams placed sixth at 55-feet-11.25 (17.05 meters), Anthony Lewis eighth at 55-feet-05.75 (16.91 meters) and Julius Smith 12th at 52-feet-11 (16.13 meters) to advance in the men's weight throw.

Autumn Sowders also advanced in the women's shot put with a heave of 39-feet-4 (11.99 meters) to place 11th in the preliminaries. Brandon Pounds advanced in the men's shot put with a third place finish in the preliminaries at 56-feet-01.25 (17.10 meters).