Men's Track and Field | 5/9/2015 8:36:00 AM

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Bethel University men's track and field team traveled to Macalester College on Friday to begin the 2015 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and notched many solid performances on the opening day of competition.

"Overall we had some good things happen and we are looking forward to having a good day Saturday," assessed head coach Andrew Rock.

The Royal men started the day on a positive note by winning the preliminaries of the 400-meter relay with a time of 42.74 seconds. Elisha Hinton and Charles Johnson, both members of the relay team, also made finals in the 100-meter dash. In addition, Hinton ran the best 200-meter dash time in prelims while relay teammate Patrick Klamm also made finals of the event with a time of 22.73 seconds.  

In the hurdles, freshman Phillip Anderson qualified for finals in the 110-meter variety while fellow freshmen Nick Schwen and Colton Syler qualified in the 400-meter event. Connor Haugen carried the torch in the 1500-meter run, making finals with a time of 4:05.40.  The Royals capped off the day with a seventh-place finish in the 3200-meter relay, notching a time of 8:03.95.

Led by senior and team captain Cody Britt, Bethel also performed well in the distance and field events. Britt had a runner-up finish in the pole vault with a height of 4.48 meters. Meanwhile, Throwers Bryce DeBoer and Josh Olson finished seventh and eighth respectively in the hammer throw.

The Royal men are currently eighth in the overall points standings with just eight events scored.  They will look to improve on their position on the final day of competition as they close out their 2015 season.