CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake University men's and women's track and field teams scored in five events on the first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship and advanced eight other competitors to Sunday's finals.

“Today was a good day for the Drake squad and new faces are doing their part to represent the University,” said Drake head coach Natasha Kaiser-Brown.

Some of those new faces on the women's team were freshmen Rai Ahmed-Green (Irvine, Calif.) and Mary Young (Urbandale, Iowa), who advanced to the final in the 400 meters and 60-meter hurdles, respectively. Ahmed-Green had the fifth-fastest 400-meter qualifying time at 56.37 while Young was the eighth-fastest hurdler at 8.67.

“I'm so proud of Rai [Ahmed-Green] and Mary [Young] advancing to the finals as first-year athletes,” Kaiser Brown said.

The men's team enjoyed similar success in the sprints with Steven Jordan (MacFarland, Wis.) finishing fifth in the finals of the 200 meters in 22.08 while Pierce Vincent (Fayetteville, Ga.) was eighth in 22.35. The pair will compete again Sunday as Vincent qualified for the finals of the 60 meters with a preliminary time of 6.88, the fifth-fastest of the day, and Jordan clocked the eighth-fastest 400-meter time of the afternoon at 49.90.

"This is his first time making finals in two open events and we're exciting to see both him and Pierce race against tomorrow,” Kaiser-Brown said of Jordan's performance.

Drake also advanced competitors in the 800 meters and mile with Samantha Nielsen (Maplewood, Minn.) finishing eighth in the preliminary heats of the 800 meters in 2:14.79. Taylor Scholl (Prior Lake, Minn.) had the 10^th-fastest qualifying time in the mile at 5:02.62 to advance to Sunday's final.

“Sammy [Nielsen] and Taylor [Scholl] fought to earn their spot in the 800 and mile and Krista [Maguire] brought it  home with a great anchor leg in the DMR,” Kaiser-Brown said.

That distance medley relay finished fourth thanks the Krista Maguire's (Wausau, Wis.) anchor after Melissa Parks (Norfolk, Neb.), Virginia Hill (Haymarket, Va.) and Erica Bestul (Apple Valley, Minn.) opened the race to record a time of 12:04.45.

The men's team accomplished the same feat with James Saxton (La Crosse, Wis.) qualifying in the 800 meters in 1:54.12 while Rob McCann (Mississauga, Ontario) did so in the mile with the fifth-fastest preliminary time of the day at 4:15.58. The men's distance crew also got points in the 5,000 meters from Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) who crossed the finish line with a personal-best of 14:35.33 for seventh place.

“Reed [Fischer] raced with the front pack, which was a tough field, but he hung in there in until the bitter end,” Kaiser-Brown said.

The men's distance medley relay turned in a seventh-place finish in 10:35.42.

In the field events, the women got points in the long jump from Kayla Bell (Bollingbrook, Ill.) who finished fifth with a personal best jump of 19-6.25.

“Kayla Bell had a tremendous day,” Kaiser-Brown added. “Making finals in the long jump was huge. I can't wait to see what she does Sunday in the triple jump.”

The Bulldogs return to competition for the final day of the MVC Indoor Championship on Sunday with action on the track starting at 1:45 p.m. Field events start at 11:30 a.m. with the women's triple jump and men's high jump.