(LEBANON, Ill., Jan. 20)—The McKendree College indoor track and field teams kicked off their 2007 seasons Saturday at the Eastern Illinois University Mega-Meet in Charleston, Ill.

 

Five members of the Bearcat program punched their tickets to the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championship with their performances at Eastern Illinois. Heading the list from the women’s program is sophomore Lanience Clark, who qualified for nationals in two events. She won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.60 seconds, while she grabbed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.02 seconds.

 

Also qualifying from the women’s team were senior Iantha Burke, who took second place in Saturday’s 400-meter dash with an effort of 1:00.10, and sophomore Tamara Francis, who was second in the long jump with a distance of 5.59 meters (18 feet, 4 ¼ inches).

 

McKendree’s 4 x 400-meter relay team recorded a time of 4:05.19 to take second in Saturday’s meet. The time was also good enough to qualify for NAIA nationals.

 

For the men’s program, Jesse King placed fifth in 60-meter hurdle finals with a time of 8.36 seconds. Senior David Wellstead had a second-place effort in the triple jump with a total distance of 14.04 meters (46 feet, ¾ inch). Both King and Wellstead qualified for the NAIA national meet, which will be held March 8-10 in Johnson City, Tenn.

 

Sophomore Jermaine Myers won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.27 at Eastern Illinois. Senior Stephanie Brown rounded out the list of McKendree top-five finishers by taking fifth in the shot put with a throw of 11.95 meters (39 feet, 2 ½ inches).

 

McKendree will return to action Feb. 3 at the DePauw University Tiger Invitational in Greencastle, Ind.