CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri track & field will travel to Atlanta, Georgia for the Georgia Tech Invitational April 18-19, at the George C. Griffin track. 

The meet begins Friday at 12:00 p.m., CST with the hammer throw and the last event is scheduled for 11:25 p.m. with the 5000m. Day two starts at 11:30 a.m. with the triple jump and ends at 6:05 p.m. with the 4x400m relay.

Where We Rank
For each individual event the top 48 performances will be accepted into the NCAA regional which is broken up into East and West. For each relay event, the top 24 relay teams will be accepted into the competition. The top 24 performances in the combined events (Heptathlon and Decathlon) are accepted directly into the Championships. 

The sport is broken up into nine regions, SEMO is in the Midwest Region which includes all the Division One schools from Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois.

Southeast has three marks ranked in the top 50 of the country, 30 marks ranked in the top 25 in the midwest, 14 marks ranked first in the OVC, and 45 performances in the top five in the Ohio Valley Conference.

In the high jump, Luke Hatfield Jackson is ranked 26th in the NCAA, sixth in the Midwest and first in the OVC, achieving a mark of 7' 0.25" at the Pacesetter Sports Invitational. In the long jump, Hatfield Jackson ranks 47th in the nation, seventh in the region and first in the OVC with a distance of 24' 7.25" which he achieved at the Crimson Tide Invitational.

Paden Lewis ranks 36th in the nation, ninth in the region, and first in the conference in the hammer throw with a distance of 212' 1" with the mark being achieved at the Pacesetter Sports Invitational. Lewis also ranks 20th in the region and first in the conference in discus throwing a distance of 177' 3" and ranks 11th in the region and first in the OVC in shot put with a mark of 59' 0.75". 

In the 400m, Sydney Burdine ran a 55.06 to be ranked 11th in the Midwest.

Cole Reinders ranks 25th in the Midwest in the 800m with a finishing time of 1:50.58.

In the 10,000m, Noah Little ranks 20th in the Midwest and first in the OVC with a time of 30:27.11.

Lexie Dockstader ranks 22nd in the Midwest with a time of 37:59.39 in the 10,000m.

With a distance of 49' 7.25" Kenyon Johnson ranks eighth in the region in triple jump.

Anna Thomason ranks 12th in the Midwest and first in the Ohio Valley Conference in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.88.

Brianna Dixon ranks 19th in the Midwest in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.00.

In the 400m hurdles Laila Hardin ran a 59.79 ranks eighth in the Midwest and first in the OVC.

The 4x400m relay team of Primeau, Fuller, Splitt, and Mygatt combined for a time of 
3:18.77 to be ranked 18th in the region.

Burdine, Lester, Dwaah, and Hardin ran a 3:48.82 in the 4x400m relay to be ranked 12th in the Midwest region. 

Brianna Dixon cleared a height of 5'7" to be ranked 21st in the region and first in the OVC in high jump. 

Molly Grohmann holds 25th in the region in high jump, clearing a height of 5'6".

Collin Beers cleared a height of 16' 4.75" in pole vault, earning 17th in the regional rankings and Sullivan Gleason vaulted over a height of 16' 1.25"  for 24th in the region.

18th in the region and first place in the OVC women's pole vault rankings is held by Clara Billing, who cleared a height of 13' 4.5".

Aarion Jackson cleared a distance of 23' 7.25" to be ranked 21st in the Midwest.

Kenyon Johnson ranks eighth in the region in triple jump with a distance of 49' 7.25".

Luke Busateri ranks 11th in the Midwest Region in the triple jump with a distance of 49' 1.75".

Baylee Beard ranks 23rd in the region with a distance of 45' 9.75" in shot put.

Clay Alewelt holds 25th place in the Midwest region in discus, throwing for a distance of 174' 9" as well as 21st in the region in hammer throw with a distance of 196' 3".

In the hammer throw Makenzie Williams threw for a distance of 189' 5" to take 16th in the region and first place in the Ohio Valley Conference rankings. Williams also ranks 17th in the region in discus with a distance of 160' 11".

Josiah Kilgore ranks 14th in the region and first in the conference in javelin throwing for a distance of 194' 3".

Throwing for a distance of 144' 0", Kennedy Zgaynor ranks 20th in the Midwest and first in the conference in javelin.

In the 5000m Garrett Dumke ranks first in the conference with a time of 14:37.23. 

Team Rankings
The Southeast Missouri men's track and field team is ranked 168th in the nation with 1.55 points coming from Luke Hatfield Jackson's high jump (7' 0.25") and long jump (24' 7.25"), and Paden Lewis' hammer throw mark of 212' 1".

The team is ranked 17th in the Midwest Region with 128.81 total points and second in the conference with 1,021.13 points behind Little Rock with 1,147.74 points.

The men's squad teams that are ranked in the top 50 in the nation are the discus team (32nd), long jump team (33rd), and the shot put team (26th).

The women's team is ranked 22nd in the Midwest Region with 79.23 total points and first in the OVC with 1,031.75 points, ahead of Little Rock in second with 1,005.54 points.

The women's squad teams that are ranked in the top 50 in the nation are the hammer throw team (22nd), and the javelin team (39th). 

Weekly Awards
Laila Hardin earned Co-Female Track Athlete of Week with Lindenwoods, Sa'Nijah Houston. Hardin placed fourth in the 400m hurdles, 10th in the 4x400m, and 31st the 100m dash, with times of 59.79, 3:48.82, and 12.50 (PR). Her 400m hurdle time ranks 89th in the NCAA, first in the OVC, and third in the SEMO records. The 4x400m time was the fastest SEMO time so far this season so far ranking second in the OVC.

Luke Hatfield Jackson tabbed Male Field Athlete of the Week after clearing a height of 7' 0.25" in the high jump for first and clearing 24' 7.25" of sand in the long jump for third. Jackson tied his season high in high jump, ranking first in OVC, 26th in NCAA, and fifth in SEMO records. The long jump distance ranks first in OVC and 47th in NCAA.

Kennedy Zgaynor achieved Female Freshman of the Week for the first time in her young Redhawk career. Zgaynor finished in 12th ahead of 11 other athletes in the javelin with a PR distance 144' 0" ranking first in OVC, and ninth in SEMO records.

Looking Ahead
After the Georgia Tech Invite the team will travel to Louisville, Kent. Apr 25 (Fri) through Apr 26 (Sat) for the Clark Wood Open.