Missouri State University

The Missouri State women's track and field team has finished Friday's first day of the State Farm/MVC Indoor Championship in third place, after five events scored and the MSU men's team is in sixth place. Senior Tracy Partain is leading the Bears with a first-place finish in the pentathlon with 3,979 points and a third-place finish in the long jump. Fabian Florant is leading the men with a fifth-place finish in the long jump.

Partain had an impressive performance in the pentathlon and finished first with 3,979 points. Partain finished second in the 60-meter hurdles, first in the high jump and 800-meter run, second in the long jump and fourth in the shot put. Partain's high jump of 5'8 3/4", 800m run time of 2:22.50 and overall pentathlon score were all season bests. Partain was also a third-place finisher in the long jump event. Her leap of 19'2 3/4" is a season best.

In the women's 5,000-meter run, Ashley Sanders and Carrie Vestal had a third and fourth-place finish for the Bears. Sanders was third with a time of 17:18.58 and Vestal was fourth in 17:23.00.

In the preliminary events, Partain finished with the second-best time in the 60-meter hurdles (8.63), qualifying her for Saturday's finals. Danielle Norville and Genna Williams qualified for finals in the 60-meter dash; Norville finished prelims with the second-best time (7.58) and Williams finished with the fifth-best time (7.64). Tanya Cyrus ran the fastest time in the 400-meter dash (55.57), putting her in the finals. Norville, Cyrus and Williams have earned a spot in Saturday's finals in the 200-meter dash. Norville ran a time of 24.66, Cyrus finished in a time of 25.02 and Williams in 24.84. Clarissa Codrington ran a time of 2:16.23 in the 800-meter run, qualifying her for finals.

On the men's side of the meet, Fabian Florant finished fifth in the long jump for the Bears, with a leap of 23'10 3/4". Josphat Bitok also earned points for Missouri State in the 5,000-meter run. Bitok finished sixth with a time of 15:07.33.

In the men's preliminary events, MSU's Kenroy Dixon ran the third-best time in the 60-meter dash and qualified for Saturday's finals. Dixon also qualified for finals in the 200-meter dash (22.24). Justin Alberts was a finals qualifier in the 400-meter dash for the Bears, running the third-fastest prelim time of 49.18. Kevin Cave also qualified for finals in the 400m, with a time of 49.28. MSU's Travis Mack ran a time of 1:56.11 in the 800-meter run and will advance to finals.

The State Farm/MVC Indoor Championships concludes on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The field events will begin at 12 noon and track events are scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m, with the last event to begin at 3:30 p.m.