Wayne State men’s and women’s track and field teams kicked off their 2016-2017 indoor season Saturday in Brookings, S.D, at the South Dakota State University (SDSU) Holiday Open.

The men’s side started the meet off strong with first place finishes from sophomore Robert Sullivan and junior Braxton Adams. Sullivan took first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8 minutes and 38 seconds, and Adams crossed the line first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.05.

“It’s not the time I wanted,” Sullivan said. “But we will get better as time goes on.”

Other top performances in the meet included sophomore Alvyns Alcenord, who placed 5th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7: 11 and 11th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.22.

Sophomore Brady Metz picked up fourth-place finishes in long jump, going 21’ 6” and 46’ 4” in triple jump. Junior Derek Lahm picked up second-place finishes, jumping 22-11’ 3/4” in long jump, and 46’ 8” in triple jump, while Habib Jallow came in second overall in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.17 seconds. Senior, Josh Spenner picked up a third place finish in pole vault. He cleared 14-7’ 1/4, and senior Nick Fly received third in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:38.

The Wildcat women started the meet off with a big performance from junior Michaela Dendinger. She placed second in shot put, tossing it 46-10’ 1/4” and third in weight throw, 58’ 1/4”. Both marks qualified for NCAA nationals.

“This meet really shined a light on the potential this team has,” Dendinger said. “It makes me excited to see what we can do moving forward in our season.”

Other top finishers for the women on the field side included junior Tessa Ives. She finished fifth in weight throw, 48 3/4 . Red-shirt freshman Tia Jones finished ninth in shot put with a throw of 39-11 1/4. Freshmana Rianna Noelle was fifth in triple jumpe jump 34-9 3/4 and 10th in long jump at 15-2 1/4.

Top Wildcats performances on the track came from senior Mary Alderson who, finished fourth overall in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 hours, 31 minutes 73 seconds, and senior Melissa Kroll finished fifth overall in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59 minutes and 43 seconds.

“Overall I thought it was a nice-sized meet to have some solid competition, great facilities to compete at, get out, and shake some of the rust off from not having had competed since May,” Head Coach Marlon Brink said. “It’s nice to have Michaela Dendinger open with two NCAA provisional marks after redshirting last year, as well as Derek Lahm opening with some very good marks after redshirting last year also.”

WSC men’s and women’s track and field will resume their season on Jan. 13-14 at the 2017 Holiday Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.