MARION, Ind. - It all comes down to this, for three of the five qualifiers for the 2013 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Nationals, the show began on the first official day of the Championship at the new host site, Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Indiana.

"It was great to see the Warriors get underway today with some great action for day one of our National Championships," head coach in his fourth season Jeff Magley commented. "It is a new location and venue for all of us this year here in Indiana, but I think the facilities and the atmosphere showed that this is going to be a great environment to compete in for these national championships."

Heptathlete Jayden Jackson started the day off for the Warriors as she set out for a full day on track with the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200-meter dash. The first-time qualifier had a season-best mark in three of her four outings. 

The sophomore started on the track with the 100-meter hurdles finishing in 16.43 seconds. From there, she had the high jump, where Jackson finished at 1.52m, a season-best for Jackson and just .01 away from her personal-best mark set last year at the Sunshine Invite. 

Magley commented on Jackson's first day of competition, "Jayden got us off to a great start today with a season-best in the high jump, and I'm proud of how she managed her jump progression, clearing her first five heights on first-attempt clearances.

She then headed over to shot-put, tallying a 20cm season-best toss at 10.56m, and closed the day back on the track with her third-straight personal-best mark in the 200m (27.66).

"Jayden did a great job closing out day one with her third season best of the day in the 200m to give her a lot of confidence going into day two," Magley said. "She has put herself in a great position to chase a top-10 finish on day two against a very talented field of competitors."

For Jackson's final day of competition, she will compete in the long jump, javelin, and 800 meters, the last being her strongest event.

Kamil Jones made his second appearance at the Outdoor Nationals as he competed in the preliminaries for the men's 400-meter hurdles. While not the outcome he hoped for, Jones finished eight spots higher than his incoming placement with a 54.63 finish.

"Even though it wasn't a PR or a perfect technical race for Kamil in tough wind conditions," Magley was proud to see him still battle as he had throughout his career. "He came into the meet ranked 23rd and finished 15th with the third fastest time of his career. Kamil left a great legacy for Jessup in the 400 hurdles, and I'm glad his hard work paid off for him to finish his final collegiate race at the National Championships for the second year in a row."

Shutting down the track for the Warriors on day one was another returning competitor in Azalea Prince, who took on the women's 10,000-meter race. Finishing 21st of 36, Prince crossed at 38:14.37, shedding off nearly two minutes from her same race a year ago at Nationals.

"Azalea finished off day one for us in the 10k, and it's always a great experience to run under the lights with a great crowd and atmosphere, even at 9:00 at night," Magley said. "Azalea did a great job focusing on competing and pushing her limits throughout the race. She came into the race ranked 28th and finished 21st, battling great competition to the finish."  

Magley stated that this is Prince's third-straight track national championships, "She has gained competitive experience from each one running over a minute twenty seconds faster than she did at this race a year ago."

Tomorrow we will see Jackson return to the field of competition and a new face in Lexi Jones, a veteran competing in her second-straight National appearance in the long job starting at 10 am EST.


   
Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media:  Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter & Instagram).