LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Southeast Missouri Track and Field teams opened up the 2026 OVC Outdoor Track and Field Championships with 3 event titles.

In the morning session the multi-event athletes got the big day started strong. Anna Thomason won three of the first four events in the heptathlon to accumulate 3102 points. She won the 100m hurdles to open the day with a time of 14.05. She also won the next event, the high jump, after clearing 5-1.50 on her second attempt. Next, she finished second in the shot put with a mark of 32-5.75 before finishing the day with another win in the 200m in 24.65. She leads the field by 210 points with three events to wrap up Friday.

In the men's decathlon Luis Schadlich is in second with 3667 points through the five events and Kannon Harlow sits in seventh with 2826 total points. Each won one event to open the competition. Schadlich won the long jump reaching a distance of 23-1.50, 0.01 meter ahead of the runner up. Harlow took the shot put title on his first throw when the stone landed at 43-0.5. Schadlich also had a strong performance in the other events finishing fourth in the 100m in 11.08, along with another fourth-place finish in the shot put reaching 35-8.25. He also finished third in the high jump clearing 6-1.25 and third in the 400m with a time of 50.75. In the other events, Harlow finished third in the 100m in 11.04 and fifth in the long jump reaching 21-1.25. He finished the day with a seventh-place finish in the high jump after clearing 5-7.25 and eighth in the 400m.

The field events opened the afternoon session with the women's hammer throw where Alyssa Repke topped the table on her last throw and won the event with a mark of 178-10 to set a new personal best. She finished ahead of Ellie Rhinehart who made the podium finishing third with a throw of 171-2 on her last throw to also set a personal best. Andreese Ortiz finished sixth with a mark of 155-11 and Bailie Hux finished 11^th reaching 128-2.

In the men's competition Zavier Winton took second in the event with a distance of 185-10 ahead of Mark Goldman who finished third with a personal best mark of 179-7. Quinton Maxwell also earned points with a sixth-place finish reaching 151-11. 

The final event in the field finals on day one was the men's pole vault where SEMO took the top four spots. Sullivan Gleason won his first outdoor pole vault championship clearing a season-best 17-2. Teammate Tanner Koontz finished second with a mark of 16-6 ahead of Colin Beers who vaulted 16-6 to finish third. Jake Cannon was the fourth Redhawk to compete and finished fourth with a mark of 16-0

The track events got going at 5 p.m. with prelims of the 1500m where Trey Mygatt led the Redhawk runners with a fifth-place finish in 3:57.79 to qualify for the finals just ahead of Evan Fuller who finished sixth in 3:57.87. Cole Reinders was the third Redhawk to qualify finishing eighth in 4:00.11. Ian Schwierjohn was the first runner to miss the finals finishing 13^th in 4:01.66.

In the women's 1500m prelims Ceyda Bayur led the SEMO women and qualified for the finals finishing with a new personal best mark of 4:42.21. Madalyn Gray finished second in her heat in 4:45.13 en route to the Saturdays final as well. Mattea Pearsall was the third Redhawk to qualify for the final finishing 11^th overall in 4:45.75.

In the men's 400m hurdles prelims Jon'David White qualified for the finals finishing eighth with a new personal best time of 55.42.

The final prelims of the day, the 200m saw Jonas Davis qualify for the finals after finishing second in his heat and eighth overall in 21.54. Connor Moore also competed but fell short after his time of 22.47. On the women's side Jasmine McClelland and Makayla Jones each set a personal best time but just missed qualifying for the final with McClelland finishing in 10^th in 24.85 ahead of Jones who finished 11^th in 24.98. 

The lone final on the track to open the championships was the men's and women's 10k. In the men's race Nick Cimmarusti led SEMO finishing 11^th in 33:25.23 ahead of Garrett Dumke finished 14^th in 35:30.35. 

In the women's race, Daphne Bishop led the team finishing sixth with a time of 37:45.11 just ahead of Kayla Vogelsang in seventh in 38:16.94. Brooklyn Bender wrapped up the scoring finishing 10^th in 38.39.48.

The championships continue Friday with the heptathlon and pentathlon wrapping up in the morning before more field events at 1:30 p.m. The lone track final will be the 3000m steeplechase at 5:15 p.m.