FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Drake University track and field team got its outdoor season off to a great start with a strong showing against some of the best teams in the nation at the Arkansas Spring Invitational on Saturday, March 26.

"We had some amazing performances today with athletes stepping up in multiple events," said Drake head coach Natasha Kaiser-Brown. "To perform so well this early in the season sets us up for some great performances as the season goes on."

Sprinter Pierce Vincent (Fayetteville, Ga.) set the tone for the day with a pair of personal bests in the 100 and 200 meters while anchoring the Bulldogs' 4x100-meter relay to a second place finish after winning its heat. 

Vincent came in second in the 100 meters with the third-fastest time in school history at 10.40. Vincent finished behind only professional Wallace Spearmon in a meet that featured athletes from Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Oklahoma State . He also clocked the fourth-fastest 200 meters in school history at 21.18. Demetrius Shelton finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in both races.

The women's team's jumpers continued their outstanding year as Kayla Bell (Bolingbrook, Ill.) won the triple jump with a leap of 40-4, just shy of her own school record. Taryn Rolle (Nassau, The Bahamas) finished second with a personal best mark of 39-10.5 that ranks second all-time in Drake history. Bell also recorded a personal best in the long jump of 19-3.5 to finish third with the sixth-best jump in program history.

In the hurdles, Virginia Hill (Haymarket, Va.) recorded a personal best of 59.86 in the 400-meter hurdles to finish fifth while Mary Young (Urbandale, Iowa) was ninth. Young finished sixth in the 100-meter hurdles in 13.74.

The Bulldogs return to action next weekend as the team splits its talents between the Texas Relays, Stanford Invitational and San Francisco Distance Carnival.