WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Missouri State track and field team battled the elements and secured nine top-six finishes here at the Mule Relays on Friday in Warrensburg, Mo.
 
Rainy weather and cool temperatures made for less than ideal racing conditions at the one-day meet hosted by Central Missouri, but the Bears powered through with a handful of competitors posting season-best numbers.
 
"A big credit goes to the team for showing up and giving everything they had without complaint," said head coach Jordan Fife.  "We had several personal bests despite the chilly weather and rain and continue to feel optimistic about our progress.  We held out quite a few individuals for rest in advance of next week's Drake Relays."
 
The Bears took two of the top-four spots in the 100-meter dash with Timeka Jordan sprinting to a 12.43 time to finish second and Taylor Richey (12.57) following in fourth.  In the preliminaries, Hayden Gray set her season-best mark with a 12.91 time.
 
Kate Anderson almost matched her season-high time (15.96) in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking a 15.97 in the preliminaries before going on to finish sixth in the event finals. 
 
In the 400-meter dash, Mackenzie Ihasz (58.47) and Sierra Williams (58.74) finished back-to-back with Ihasz coming in third and Williams in fourth.  Another set of Bears crossed the finish in consecutive fashion with Manuela Ngo Tonye Nyemeck (9th) running a 1:01.32 and Edna Dar (10th) following at the 1:01.37 mark.
 
Ashley Rolewicz finished fifth in the 1,500-meter run with a 4:46.14 time, just ahead of teammate Grace Breiten (4:50.06) who came in sixth.
 
Later in the meet, Rolewicz continued her consistent pace in the 800-meter run, recording a time of 2:20.18 which placed her sixth.  Competing in the event for the first time this year, Emily Graham ran a 2:39.35.
 
Gray closed out the sprints with a 27.20 in the 200-meter dash.
 
Shelby Palmer (18:19.97) paced the distance group in the 5,000-meter run, placing third in the event on her fastest time of the outdoor campaign.  Alex Hamre (18:40.17) and Breiten (18:40.38) were next across the tape for the Bears while Lillie Kaempfe (18:44.87), Grace Murphy (18:57.86), Margo Nea (19:23.66) and Natalie Clayton (20:13.09) rounded out MSU's seven-runner showing in the race.
 
Up next for Missouri State is a trip to Des Moines, Iowa to compete in the Drake Relays with the prestigious three-day event taking place on April 22-24.