INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy track & field teams competed in multiple locations on Friday, opening the season at Grand Valley State and at home in the ARC. The Greyhounds managed to hit a high level in the opening weekend, breaking two school records in GVSU and Indianapolis.

GRAND VALLEY
The distance team took several student-athletes to compete at Grand Valley, running in the 5000 meter and mile. Lauren Bailey highlighted the meet by smashing both her own school record and the automatic qualifying time for the NCAA DII Indoor Championships in the women's 5K. Bailey's crossed the finish line in the event at 16:17.7. Berenice Cleyet-Merle also competed at a high level, winning the women's mile by 13 seconds. Cleyet-Merle's 4:59.37 time was less than a second off the provisional time. The men's distance team only competed in the 5K, led by junior Jacob Stamm. Stamm and his 36th-place finish (14:52.50). Sophomore Nathan Herbst followed shortly after, finishing his race at a time of 15:00.93 for 43rd overall.

INDIANAPOLIS
The rest of the Greyhound teams were located back at UIndy, and they joined in the march of creating history as well. Brittney Clark shattered her own UIndy record in the women's pole vault, climbing to a lofty height of 3.89 meters. The new UIndy mark was also high enough to eclipse the NCAA DII Indoor provisional mark. The women's team won three other field events on Friday in the long jump and triple jump. Izabelle Nelson outlasted the second-place finisher in the long jump by .03 meters, as she topped the field with a 5.05-meter leap. Women's triple jump was led by Deani Dunigan, as she earned a 9.77 mark, good for first place. Taylor Strnad kicked off her junior campaign with a strong win in the women's high jump, as she ousted the competition on a height of 1.65 meters. Katrinia Hopkins surpassed the provo mark in the women's shot put with a 14.02.

The men dominated the mile run at the UIndy home opener, as they placed six student-athletes in the top-10 finishers. Ben Nagel was the front runner in the event, as his 4:32.19 was less than a second ahead of the second-place finisher. Dallas Ford finished his race second overall in the men's 60-meter hurdles (8.48). Alexander Brown-Baez made his way into a top-three finish as well, as he finished as runner-up in the men's 200 meter on a time of 22.77.

The UIndy women took home wins in four of the six running events, placing student-athletes in the top two in five of those events. Keri Ertel dominated the women's 60-meter hurdles, as she crossed the line on a time of 9.12. The Greyhounds would go on to win the following three women's running events, including Sheniya Brown's 7.82 60-meter time, Madison Vauters' 5:25.15 mark in the mile and Yailene Leon's 2:26.04 finish in the 800.

UP NEXT
The Greyhounds will finish out the first semester of classes with another pair of competitions this Friday, as they travel to Bloomington, Ind., for the Hoosier Open and remain home for the UIndy Winter Break meet.