(LEBANON, Ill., Apr. 30) – The McKendree University track and field program sent a partial squad to compete at the Illinois College True Blue Twilight in Jaskconville, IL.

The Bearcats had 13 athletes competing for the men's team and four on the women's side.

The men's team scored 79 points among the 15 universities competing to finish in fourth place.

Freshman Christian Neal (Bloomington, IL/Bloomington) and Demontez McCray (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) each pulled in first place finishes for McKendree. Neal put in a time of 15.74 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, while McCray notched a time of 10.56 seconds in the 100-meter dash for his first place finish.

McCray was joined by fellow freshman Tyree Allen (Country Club Hills, IL/Hillcrest) along with sophomore Alexis Palmer (Parkland, FL/Nova) and Eddie Lusk (Maryville, IL/Triad) who finished fourth, fifth, and sixth in the 100-meter dash. Palmer and Allen also finished second and third respectively in the 200-meter with times of 21.86 and 22.16 seconds. Lusk and junior Dominick Pickens (Springfield, IL/Lanphier) also cracked the top ten as Lusk placed seventh and Pickens finished in ninth.

Freshman Tyler Johnson (South Holland, IL/St. Rita) took home a second place finish in the 400-meter with a time of 50.51 seconds. Fellow freshman Joe Shannon (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) also tallied a second place time in the 1500-meter after finishing in 3:59.23.

In the field freshman Os Moore landed a pair of top five finishes after placing third in the long jump with a distance of 6.41-meters before placing fourth in the triple jump traveling 12.16-meters.

The women's team finished with 10 team points to place 13 of 15, with just a handful of ladies competing.

Freshman Kirby Smith (Des Arc, AK/Des Arc) totaled two top five finishes placing fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.86 seconds and fifth in the shot put after a throw of 11.02-meters.

Junior Nikki Dentzman landed a top ten finish in the 100-meter dash after posting a time of 12.89 seconds. Freshman Tatianna Nieves came in just behind her with a time of 12.99 seconds to finish tenth.

Freshman Rebecca Blount (Saint Augustine, FL/Bartram Trial) finished in 6:11.05 in the 1500-meter.