The Butler men's track and field team opened the 2017 outdoor season with 10 first-place finishes at the Butch Reynolds Invitational on Thursday at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex.
In addition to winning 10 events, the Grizzlies had three national qualifying marks for the NJCAA Outdoor Championships in May.
Sophomore Kurth Collins took first place in the 400-meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 54.49 seconds, while sophomore Kendal McGuire was second in the javelin event with a top throw of 53.55 meters (175' 8").
Also qualifying for nationals was the men's 4x100-meter relay (Kyandre Lyons, Travis Collins, Akeem Sirleaf and Andre Ewers), clocking in at 40.13 seconds.
Lyons was one of two Grizzlies to win two events, as he won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.76 seconds. Sophomore Elijah Smith was the other athlete, taking top honors in both the long jump and triple jump.
Smith won the long jump event with a mark of 6.87 meters (22' 6-1/2"), then placed first in the triple jump with a top leap of 14.13 meters (46' 4-1/4"). Sophomore Mason Buckmaster gave the Grizzlies a third top finish in field events by winning the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.93 meters (6' 4").
Butler swept both relay and hurdle events, winning the 4x400-meter event with the team of Mario Thomas, Jameel Austin, Traion Poellnitz and Derrick Reid, who ran a time of 3:25.03. Sophomore Jhibri Greer took home first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.00 seconds.
The Grizzlies also had three victories in long distance events, beginning with sophomore Emmanuel Biwott winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:07.99). Freshman Eliud Koech finished first in the 1,500 run (4:08.33), while freshman Boniface Kiptoo won the 5,000-meter run (16:32.38).
Butler also had six runner-up finishes on the day, along with McGuire in the javelin. Taking second was Cameron Emery (100m, 10.84), Derrick Reid (800m, 1:56.76), Mario Thomas (400m hurdles, 57.09) and Hillary Kiptoo (3,000m steeplechase, 10:52.61). The Butler 'B' 4x100-meter relay team of Keith Timmons, Cameron Emery, Jameel Austin and Kurth Collins also finished second with a time of 40.87 seconds.
Next up for Butler will be the Tiger Invitational, which will be held on Saturday, April 1 in Arkansas City.
