(Liberty, MO., May 7)—The McKendree University men's track and field team had a strong showing on Saturday to finish in third place at the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Liberty, MO. The two-day meet wrapped up Saturday on the campus of William Jewel College.
 
The Bearcats finished the event with 117 points and was one of just four schools to clear the 100-point mark for the competition. Lewis University pulled away to win the meet with 174 points, followed by the University of Indianapolis with 153 points. The finish matches a record high for McKendree since beginning competition in the GLVC in 2013. The 117 points tops the Bearcats previous high of 105 points in 2013.

Sophomore Ryan Pearce (Villa Grove, IL/Villa Grove) continued his weekend performance by winning two events on Saturday. Pearce took home the top spot in the first event of the day after a provisional throw of 52.31-meters in the javelin to earn 10 team points. Pearce followed up with another winning toss in the discus after a heave of 50.73-meters. Pearce was joined on the podium by freshman Chase Hagene (Nashville, IL/Nashville) who also hit a provisional standard after a toss of 49.82-meters to earn eight more points for the Bearcats with a second place finish.

Sophomore Alex McCrite (Tamms, IL/Egyptian) continued his strong campaign in 2016 after hitting a provisional mark in the high jump with a height of 2.05-meters. McCrite tied a personal best taking home a third place finish and six team points.

On the track McKendree stockpiled team points in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. The Bearcats earned four of the top six slots in the 100-meter led by freshman DeMontez McCray who took the crown after finishing with a provisional standard of 10.50 seconds. Juniors Donovan Friscia (Jacksonville, FL/Bartram Trail) and Cameron James (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) grabbed third and fourth place finishes after completing the race with times of 10.57 and 10.71 seconds respectively. Sophomore Kevin Witcik (Machesney Park, IL/Harlem) rounded out the top showings with a sixth place finish to give McKendree 24 team points in the race.

It was a similar trend in the 200-meter as McCray and Frisica once again finished in first and third place after McCray hit a provisional mark of 20.96 seconds, while Friscia joined him with a time of 21.42 seconds, also a provisional standard. Freshman Tyree Allen (Country Club Hills, IL/Hillcrest) finished in seventh place with a time of 22.47 seconds to add a total of 18 team points for the Bearcats.

Freshman Christian Neal (Bloomington, IL/Bloomington) scored points in two events starting with a seventh place showing in the 110-meter hurdles to earn two points after finishing in 15.31 seconds. Neal also placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.34 seconds, joined by fellow freshman Tyler Johnson (South Holland, IL/St. Rita) who came in just behind him in fifth place after a time of 56.56 seconds to give McKendree nine total points in the 400.

The Bearcats relay teams each scored points paced by the 4x100-meter relay squad that blazed a provisional standard of 40.93 seconds to take home first place. The 4x400-meter team put in a time of 3:21.18 to earn fourth place.