PITTSBURG, Kan.-The Texas A&M-Kingsville track and field program wrapped up the first meet of the indoor campaign on Saturday with redshirt seniors Johnathon Harper (Lorena, Texas) and Dean Wallace (Geronimo, Texas) setting NCAA provisional marks in the heptathlon, while junior Shaun Gill (Belize City, Belize) did so in the 60m at the Boo Rogers Invitational at the Robert W. Plaster Center.
"It was a good opener for us." said coach Ryan Dall, "We were able to get some good things done and take some things that we need to work on to be better later in the season. It's been great to be back competing and I'm looking forward to getting hte rest of hte team going."
Harper was crowned heptathlon champion at the Boo Rogers Invitational for the third consecutive year, as he posted a national leading mark of 5,451 on the back of first-place performances in the 60m hurdles and the pole vault.
He began the day in a hurry clocking in at 8.13 in the hurdles, allowing him to tack 949 on his day-one total of 2,949 before dominating the pole-vault with a mark of 4.70m (15-5), good for 819 more points. He took fourth in the final event of the contest clocking in at 2:52.50 to add 740 and finish his day atop the leaderboard.
Wallace, meanwhile, earned 4913 points across seven events placing fourth overall amongst a slew of All-American competitors. He finished fifth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.70 to add 793 to his score combined with a 4.60m (15-1) mark in the pole vault that slotted him second and to earn another 790 points. The Geronimo, Texas, native ended the day placing 15th in the 1000m, tacking 595 onto his score.
Additionally, freshman Nathan Melton (Lorena, Texas) opened his collegiate career by collecting a 17th-place finish in the heptathlon with a score of 3,711.
Gill added the third and final provisional mark of the evening with a 60m time of 6.84 in his first competition since competing in the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, placing him tenth overall and fourth excluding non-NCAA competitors.
Joining Gill in the 60m and making his Blue and Gold debut, redshirt senior Shammawi Wellington (Portmore, Jamaica) took 22nd with a time of 7.02.
Closing out the day was junior Kimberly Ortolon (Edna. Texas) who competed in the pole vault and narrowly missed the provisional standard of 3.69m (12-1.25) with her height of 3.61m (11-10) placing her tenth.
The Javelinas' next meet takes them to College Station, Texas, after the turn of the year on January 14 for the Ted Nelson Invitational hosted by Texas A&M.
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