The Wayne State men and women’s track and field teams opened up the outdoor season with the Wildcat Classic this past Friday and Saturday. The Wildcat Classic is the sole home meet of the year, and is the first of 12 outdoor meets this spring for the Wildcat men and women’s teams.

The Wildcat Classic featured Northern Sun Conference teams that included Minnesota Sate Mankato, Northern State and University of Sioux Falls. Other schools who competed in the meet included Division I South Dakota and several NAIA schools such as, Briar Cliff, Dakota State, Dordt, Jamestown, Midland, Mount Marty and Northwestern.

The women’s side highlighted two Wildcat first place finishes. Freshman Mikayla Marvin had a first place finish in the pole vault event clearing 10’ 11 3/4”. Freshman Jordyn Pester captured a first place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.56 seconds.

“I think everyone prepared well,” freshman Marin Jetensky said. “There is nothing like the ‘first meet of the season jitters’. We just got done with the indoor season a couple of weeks ago, so we jumped right into the outdoor season.”

Junior Riana Noelle also recorded a second place finish in the triple jump (35’ 3 3/4”) and placed fourth in the long jump. Senior Joan Jelimo captured a third place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.41 seconds and placed fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.44 seconds.

“Everyone enjoyed having a meet at home,” Jetensky said. “A lot of the team had family drive up from all over just to watch us compete. It is one of the best feelings ever just to know that you have a good fan base and lots of support.”

Other top finishes in the meet for the wildcats included, Andrea Torres with a fourth place finish in the 10,000-meter run (41:35.48), Jetensky also took fifth in the 800-meter run (2:27.78), and Sophie Noecker with a fifth place finish in the long jump (16’ 6 1/2”).

The men’s side featured two Wildcat first place finishes as well, led by senior Robert Sullivan and sophomore Preston Davis. Sullivan took first in the long jump event with a top mark of 22’ 11”. Sullivan also recorded a second place finish in the 110-meter hurdles event with a time of 15.41 seconds. Davis recorded a personal best mark of 176’ 11” to win the javelin.

Junior Dylan Kaup reached an NCAA provisional mark in the hammer throw.

“Home meets are fun because you get to compete in front of your friends and family and they don’t have to travel hours at a time to watch us compete for only a few hours,” Davis said.

The Wildcat 4 x 400 javelin meter relay team (Davis, Jacob Ladage, Kyle Lowe and Bryce Holcomb) captured a fourth place finish with a time of 3:33.61.

Juniors Jayle Hinkle and Dylan Kessler as well as sophomore Nathan Hiemer also recorded second place finishes in their respective events.

“I thought we did really well on both sides for our home meet, considering the small amount of outdoor prep work we got to do,” Davis said. “We had a couple event wins and the team did well considering weather conditions.”

Wayne State men and women’s track and field teams will be back in action on Thursday, March 28 at the Fort Hays State Invitational in Kansas.