PUEBLO, CO - The Lenoir-Rhyne Track & Field team had a strong start to their national championships on Thursday, with Alexis Brown and the women's 4x100m relay team each qualifying for Saturday's finals. 

Alexis Brown set the standard in the 100m dash, running the third fastest all-conditions 100m dash time in the history of Division II with a mark of 11.06 seconds. She joins Tusculum's Jahzara Hart as the only two SAC athletes to qualify for the 100m final. Brown also anchored the women's 4x100m relay team that consisted of her, Sharonda Priester, Damyja Ortiz, and Molly McGrath to a third place finish in their heat with a time of 45.00. This gave them the ninth and final qualifying time into Saturday's final. 

Also running individual events were Havyn Spain and Damyja Ortiz, who each ran the 400 meters. Spain ran a 47.38 in his prelim, the second fastest time of his young career. Ortiz came through at 55.40, the fourth fastest time she's ever run. 

Both Oliver Thatcher and Miranda Marr opened up the day competing in the first half of the multis. Both Thatcher and Marr sit in 12th after their respective events. Thatcher set opened up his competition with a personal best of 11.16 in the 100m and jumped a 6.90m in the long jump, his best mark of the season. He then went 11.64m in the shot put, 1.87m in the high jump, and ran a 50.63 in the 400m for a five-event total of 3673. Marr ran a 14.72 in the 100m hurdles, finished seventh with a 1.63m leap in the high jump, threw the shot 10.36m, and ran a 26.in the 200m for a day one total of 2972. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday
11:30 a.m. ET - Decathlon / Oliver Thatcher
12:30 p.m. ET - Heptathlon / Miranda Marr
7:30 p.m. ET - Women's 200m Dash (Prelims) / Alexis Brown & Damyja Ortiz
9:50 p.m. ET - Women's 4x400m (Prelims)

Saturday
7:10 p.m. ET - Women's 4x100m Relay (Finals)
8:40 p.m. ET - Women's 100m Dash (Finals)
9:45 p.m. ET - Women's 200m Dash (Finals)
10:55 p.m. ET - Women's 4x400m (Finals)