In its first meet of the outdoor season, the men's track andfield team had several top performances Wednesday at the FloridaState Relays.
The team had 15 top-five finishes, including second-placeshowings in the pole vault, javelin and triple jump.
"This was definitely a good start to the outdoor season. It wasjust a great week," head coach Jermaine Jones said. "We could nothave asked for a better situation."
Senior Paul Panning finished second in the pole vault with amark of 16-4 34, four inches behind Florida's Chip Heuser,while junior Jason Howard took second in the triple jump at 48feet.
Panning's performance was good enough to regionally qualify himfor the NCAA Championships.
Senior Andrew Miller's first throw of the year, a 193-7 mark andalso a personal record, was good for a second place finish in thejavelin, which is strictly an outdoor event.
Also in the javelin, Tom Green had a fifth place finish with histhrow of 184-05.
"I expect (Andrew and Tom) to consistently compete for the topthree spots just about anywhere we go," Jones said. "I definitelyexpect them to compete throughout the season at that level."
Returning from a disappointing indoor season riddled by anagging injury, junior Kyle Cleaver began his outdoor season on apositive note with a third-place showing in the hammer throw on a175-04 heave.
Both Cleaver and sophomore teammate Jeremy Gillingham fouled inthe discus. However, Gillingham recovered with a fifth place finishin the shot put with a mark of 54-03 34, which regionallyqualified him for the NCAA Championships.
Freshman Kurt Kinkead took fourth in the 400-meter dash with atime of 52.71, only .21 seconds behind unattached runner AdrianMann.
Kinkead, along with teammates Andrew Brown, Jameson Barber andGeoff King, also competed on the 4x400 relay team that took fourthplace at 3:16.54.
Other top relay finishes include a fourth place finish in the4x200 and a fifth place finish in the 1600 sprint medley.
The Cards had fourth and fifth-place finishes in the 100-meterdash by junior Angel Santiago and King, respectively. In the 110hurdles, freshman Corey Miller took third place with his time of14.62.
Ball State will have a two-week break, returning to action atApril 3 for the Notre Dame Open.
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