EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Drake University men's and women's track and field teams continued their outdoor season on Saturday at the Gateway Invite, hosted by SIU-Edwardsville. The Bulldogs left the one-day scored meet with 27 scoring performances to finish in sixth place on the women's side and seventh on the men's.

The Bulldogs' had one individual champion on the day with Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.) winning the women's 1,500 meters in a season-best time of 4:39.24. Melissa Parks (Norfolk, Neb.) finished on Scholl's heels in 4:39.87, a personal best, for second place.

“Taylor competed very well,” said Drake head coach Natasha Kaiser-Brown. “She was aggressive from the start and finished strong.”

Also in the distance events, Erin Poss (Antioch, Ill.), put up a career-best of 17:41.28 in the 5,000 meters to finish fifth. Tiara Winston (Denton, Texas) was fifth as well in the 100 meters with a personal best of 12.04 in the preliminary heats followed by a 12.12 finish in the finals. Hurdler Sarah Yeager (Ottumwa, Iowa) continued to deliver by finishing third in the 100-meter hurdles and second in the 400-meter hurdles.

The women's squad also scored points in three jump events that included Kathryn Ambrose (Warrensburg, Mo.) just missing a career best at 11-1.75 to finish eighth in the pole vault.

“She [Ambrose] was booming the earlier heights and had some solid runs when the bar moved to 11 feet,” Kaiser Brown said. “I expect her to have a PR very soon.”

Both Steven Jordan (McFarland, Wis.) and Travis Marsh (Ankeny, Iowa) scored in three events for the Bulldogs. Jordan was sixth in the 200 meters in 21.70 and seventh in the 400 meters at 50.12 while joining with Marsh on the 4x100-meter relay that finished first in 41.86. Marsh was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.80 and was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.38. That race saw him upstaged by teammate Kai Asberry (Carrollton, Texas) who shattered the 53-second mark for the first time in his career with a second-place finish of 52.29.

The Bulldogs' men's team got points in four field events including a third and fourth-place showing from David Silkman (Leawood, Kan.) and Phillip Beeler (Lenexa, Kan.) in the javelin. Silkman's throw of 194-8 was a personal best for the sophomore.

The Bulldogs return to action next week with a portion of the team competing at the 105^th Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee and others traveling to nearby Simpson College for the Kip Janvrin Invitational.