Emporia, Kan.- The Ottawa men's and women's track and field teams competed Thursday night at the Emporia State Relays- a meet that featured NCAA Division 1 and 2 schools, as well as some of the top junior colleges in the country- and both groups came away with top-10 finishes when the final team scores were tallied.

The women's team- currently ranked #21 in the NAIA- finished 7^th out of 23 schools in attendance, scoring 43 team points and finishing ahead of bigger schools such as Creighton, , Arkansas Tech, and Missouri Western.  The OU women were led by JayOnna Perry, who contributed 20.5 team points by finishing 1^st in the 400m hurdles, 2^nd in high jump, was part of the 5^th place 4x100 team, and anchored the 4x400 meter relay along with Jah'Nisha Campbell, Carlee Gassman, and Jordyn Weems to a 3^rd place finish in a school-record time of 3:57.33. 

The 4x400m relay school record was the second record-breaking performance of the day for Jordyn Weems, who also shattered the longest-standing record in the women's OU record book.  Jordyn's fourth attempt in the long jump sailed 5.73 meters (18 feet, 11.5 inches), beating Karrie Brockman's record of 5.63 meters (18 feet, 6 inches), which had stood since May 2^nd, 1986.  The jump was also long enough to meet the NAIA "B" standard for the national championship, and currently ranks 3^rd in the NAIA.

On the men's side, Kayron Johnson led the team to a 7^th place finish out of 25 teams by scoring 14.5 team points.  Johnson placed 2^nd in the 400m hurdles, 4^th in the 110m hurdles, 6^th in triple jump, and anchored the 3^rd place 4x400m relay team that also consisted of Xavier Garza, Athens Fawkes, and Domonic Atkinstall.  Jacob Ludwick and Hadyn Bieling both contributed 8 points to the team total.  Both men beat out higher ranked opponents to earn second place finishes- Ludwick in the javelin and Bieling in high jump.  

Other Braves highlights from the meet include:

• Jaylan Washington making his season debut in the 100m dash with a time of 10.42, which currently ranks #1 in the NAIA.
• Jacob Ludwick breaking the school record in the javelin for the 2^nd week in a row with a throw of 64.18 meters, which ranks 4^th in the NAIA.
• Hadyn Bieling placed 2^nd in high jump with a leap of 2.04m, moving him up to 7^th place in the NAIA.
• Women's 4x100m team of Jah'Nisha Campbell, JayOnna Perry, Carlee Gassman, and Jordyn Weems ran 48.6, moving them up to #12 in the NAIA.
• Kayron Johnson's time of 53.87 in the 400m hurdles is currently #8 in the NAIA.
• Xavier Garza's 400m hurdles time of 55.84 is currently #25 in the NAIA.
• The women's 4x400m relay time of 3:37.33 moves them up to #5 in the NAIA.
• The men's 4x400m relay time of 3:21.08 moves them up to #8 in the NAIA.
• Daniel Campbell's mark of 4.18 meters in the pole vault is currently #27 in the NAIA.

A number of OU athletes also achieved personal-best performances:

• Daniel Campbell in pole vault
• Athens Fawkes in the 200m
• Xavier Garza in the 400m hurdles
• Kennard Issac in the 400m
• Jacob Ludwick in javelin
• Jordan Mitchell in the 1500
• DeAndray Rhodes in triple jump
• Abigail Bird in the 1500
• Jah'Nisha Campbell in the 400m
• Juliet Lane in javelin
• Elliauna Rogers in shot put
• Jordyn Weems in the 200m
• Kayla Whiteaker in the 100m
• Kayla Whiteaker in the 200m

The Braves now have 7 national championship qualifiers in 9 events, with a handful of athletes within striking distance of punching their tickets to nationals.  The group will get another chance to qualify next Friday and Saturday, April 5^th and 6^th, at the Friends University Open.