Eight of the University of Redlands' 11 qualifiers took on the competition on Thursday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Spire Institute in Geneva, OH. 

Despite a wet track and a consistent drizzle, the 14th-seeded Bulldog women's 4 x 100 Relay of sophomore Kara Romani (Sacramento, CA), freshman Chyenne Kimble (Big Bear Lake, CA), senior Jasmine Ramos (Santa Fe Springs, CA), and senior Alison Smith (McKinleyville, CA) fired off a preliminary time that was just speedy enough to advance to Saturday's final heat. Redlands crossed the finish line in 47.55, which was the exact same time as the quartet from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse for the last spot in the final as the ninth qualifier. To break the dead-even tie, the officials went to the thousandth of a second, which moved Redlands to an advancing time of 47.546, as compared to UW-L's mark of 47.547.  By the tightest of margins, the Bulldogs look forward to Saturday's final in the 4x100 Relay.

Individually, Smith competed in four events of the Heptathlon on the opening day. She got off to an outstanding start by winning the 100 Hurdles with a quick time of 14.39. She followed this up with quality marks in the High jump (4' 9 ½"), Shot Put (34' 4 ¼"), and 200 Meters (26.44). Smith's awesome day one results land her in third place, as competition continues with three events on Friday.

On the men's side, sophomore Luke Bohlinger (Mercer Island, WA), sophomore Nick Burchett (Gold River, CA), senior Myles Speegle (Castro Valley, CA), and freshman Maliq Champion (Beaumont, CA) represented Redlands in the men's 4 x 100 Relay. The foursome completed the race with a time of 42.26, which unfortunately, was not fast enough to qualify for the final heat.

Burchett then faced a quick turn-around, as he took on the damp track in the 400 Hurdles. He ran a solid 55.05, but missed out on the top nine and will not advance to Saturday's finals.

For a complete list of the day one results, please visit the NCAA's timing website.