FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Missouri State women's track and field began its 2019-20 indoor season with impressive performances at the Arkansas Invitational on Friday.
 
MSU posted a pair of top-3 finishes in the field events with Jessica Haney finishing third in the high jump and Kennedy Aurentz earning a second place in the shot put.
 
"It definitely felt like the first meet today for our team, but they were able to calm their nerves as the meet went on," said head coach Jordan Fife.  "There were plenty of good signs and glimpses of the good things to come."
 
Haney kicked off the Bears' day with the high jump, clearing the bar at the 1.70-meter mark.  She went out on the same height as the top-two finishers, but placed third in the event after the tiebreaker on total misses. 
 
Aurentz opened up her MSU career with a second-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 13.32 meters.
 
Malia Watkins led the charge for the sprinters, posting a 7.88 in the 60-meter dash and a 25.47 in the 200-meter dash.  A'Mira Askew (7.91) and Calandra Henry (7.94) joined Watkins in the 60-meter dash while Henry went on to place 20th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.82.
 
The Bears were well represented in the 400-meter run with Chanice Forbes (11th) and Mackenzie Ihasz (13th) crossing the finish line just under the one-minute mark at 59.19 and 59.52, respectively.
 
Jayda Buchannan took sixth in the 600-meter run after running a 1:38.01 in her debut for the Bears.
 
MSU's distance group started the indoor season off on the right foot.  Edna Dar placed 9th in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:59.45.  In the mile, Grace Breiten paced the Bears by posting a 5:09.77 to finish 11th, followed by back-to-back finishes from Shelby Palmer (5:17.87) and Adyson Delaney (5:17.89).
 
The MSU 4x400-meter relay team of Forbes, Watkins, Ihasz, and Buchannan earned third place in the final event of the meet, edging past Oklahoma Baptist at the 3:54.10 mark.
 
"It was a bit of an eye-opening experience for the newcomers and they were able to get a feel for this level of competition," added Fife.  "It was good to get the first meet jitters out of the way and we can get back to work at practice to get ready for next week."
 
Up next for Missouri State is the DeLoss Dodds Invitational, hosted by Kansas State from Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kan.  The two-day meet will begin on Friday, Jan. 24 with the women's pentathlon at 10:00 a.m. and will continue on Saturday, Jan. 25 with field events at 11:00 a.m. and running events at 3:30 p.m.
 
For more information on the Missouri State track and field team, visit MissouriStateBears.com or visit the team Twitter @MSUBearsTrackXC and Facebook.