Pittsburg, Kan. – The Missouri Southern men's and women's track and field teams opened up the 2018 indoor season today at the Pittsburg State Crimson and Gold Invitational, coming home with a school record and seven NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
 
Morgan Smith broke her own school record in the 60m hurdles, winning the event in a time of 8.63, .02 of a second in front of her previous best and also good for an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Elizabeth Adeoye placed 9^th in the event, while Montasia Shannon and Deiajuane Watts placed 10^th and 14^th.
 
Travis Petersen picked up an NCAA provisional mark in the weight throw, placing 2^nd in a distance of 61-01.25. Josh Fulmer was fifth, while Trace Henault placed 11^th.
 
Payton Roberts was 2^nd in the shot put with an NCAA provisional mark of 50-01.75, while Fulmer placed 5^th in the men's shot in a distance of 52-02.00. Roberts placed 8^th in the weight throw with a distance of 49-02.50, while Kirsten Leisinger was 12^th.
 
In the invitational pole vault, Elena Bisotto was 2^nd and Jordan Banker was 4^th, both picking up NCAA provisional marks. Bisotto cleared 12-02.50, while Banker cleared 11-10.50. Samantha Petry was 8^th at 11-02.50.
 
In the open pole vault, Lauren Sutherland had an NCAA provisional mark of 11-10.50 to place 2^nd, while Megan Tramel was 3^rd at 11-06.50. Dean Howard placed 6^th in the men's pole vault with an NCAA provisional mark of 15-06.25
 
Jasmine Deckard nearly picked off her own school record in the 60m dash with an NCAA provisional mark of 7.68, just .02 of a second from the previous mark. She placed 5^th in the event. Deckard won the 300m dash in a time of 39.67, while Adeoye placed 3^rd in a time of 41.11.
 
Jon Johnson won the 600y in a time of 1:11.66, a little under six tenths of a second from his school record. Scott Lewis was 9^th in a time of 1:16.62. Ivan Colbert was 7^th in the 60m hurdles in a time of 8.46, while Douglas Depagneux was 4^th in the 300m with a time of 35:17. Colbert was 11^th in the 300m.
 
Rachel Ray was 5^th in the 600y, while Kelsey Evans was 6^th in the 800m, while Sara Lin placed 11^th and Sarah Peoples was 14^th. Janna Hautala was 9^th in the mile in a tie of 5:16.26, while Nathan Painter was 3^rd and Tadd Capron was 5^th in the mile with times of 4:16.68 and 4:17.17.
 
Wynter Nekola was 3^rd in the high jump at 5-05, while Ojurere Shonekan was 7^th in the long jump at 17-06.00. Jeremiah Wald placed 7^th in the triple jump in a distance of 44-07.00.
 
The women's mile relay team of Ray, Ashlynn Vanatter, Evans and Smith placed 4^th in a time of 4:00.31, while another team of Watts, Lin, Peoples and Hautala was 10^th.  The men's mile relay team of Johnson, Depagneux, Blake Gillihan and Lewis placed 9^th in a time of 3:21.45.

In other action Friday night, Gidieon Kimutai was 2nd in the 5k at Northwest Missouri. The freshman picked up a strong NCAA provisional mark of 4:13.17 in the event.
 
Southern will be back in action after the new year when the Lions travel to Northwest Missouri to compete on January 18-19.