Grand Rapids, Michigan - The men's track and field team began competition at the WHAC Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Aquinas College. The men head into the second day of competition in third place out of nine teams with 54.5 points.  Indiana Tech leads the team title race with 76.5 points.

The Saints would start the day with a very solid showing in the men's 4x800 meter relay.  The quartet of  Zander Masten, Alex Dumont, Jaben Bakker, and Jack Phillips would place sixth in the event with a provisional qualifying time of 7:54.33. Juan David Hernandez would then claim a conference title in the 5,000 meters. JD's time of 15:16.58 led a foursome of Saints who finished in the top six of the event en route to 24 team points. Shema Reponse placed third (15:25.34), Charlie Coyle placed fourth (15:27.27), and Brian Langlois (15:34,20) finished in sixth place.

Chris Jackson, who entered the meet as the 14th seed, would surprise everyone to claim the WHAC title in the high jump. Jackson used multiple personal best clearances to secure the win. His jump of 6-6.25 bested the 20 person field. The Saints also received a fifth place performance from Jalen Radke (22-9) in the long jump. 

The Saints would also add to their point total in the weight throw and the pole vault. Ryan McGuire threw a season best 52-11 to claim sixth in the weight, while the Saints scored three deep in the pole vault.  Emmanuel Farage placed third (14-9), Brady Lewis placed sixth (14-9), and Yura Rozendal (14-3.25) tied for seventh.

The Saints return to the Alksnis Athletic & Recreation Building for the second and final day of the competition. The meet will resume at 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon.