Wichita, Kan.—Spire Track & Field was eager to get back to action this weekend in Wichita, Kansas at the Friends University First Chance Qualifier.

USM opened up their 2026 portion of the season strong, with numerous Top 10 KCAC performances already with such an early start to the year. Freshman and Sophomore due Emily Struckman and Emma Murphy placed 5^th and 6^th respectively in the women's weight throw, marking 14.36m 47' 1 ½ for the freshman Struckman and 13.47m 44' 2 ½ for Murphy. Emily would go on to place 8^th overall in the shot put with a final mark of 10.91m 35' 9 ½. Staying on the women's side, Tamara Lopez would finish 6^th in the women's triple-jump with a mark of 9.23m 30' 3 ½ and freshman teammate Maya Newcomer would place herself in the top 3 overall in the high jump, launching over 1.53m 5' 01 ¼.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but senior Josie Tyrrell would easily finish in the top spot in the 1-mile with a final time of 5:07.81. Spire teammates Abigail White (5:22.95), Carly Holadia (5:23.93), and Serenity Desrosier Larson (5:26.25) would follow up in 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th place respectively. White would go on to earn 2^nd place overall in the women's 600-meter with a final time of 1:44.01, mere seconds behind the front runner from Tabor.

Looking at the men's side, Jeremy Shreve and Robert Hennig placed 5^th and 8^th respectively in the men's weight throw with final marks of 14.91m 48' 11" and 14.09m 46' 2 ¾. Sophomore Nolan Norberto added his strong contributions in finishing 3^rd overall in shot put, with a final mark of 14.69m 48' 2 ½. Continuing on, Juan Washington finished 8^th in a competitive triple-jump event with a final mark of 13.03m 42' 9". Spire teammates Dawson Troth and Justin Johnston were quite literally neck-and-neck in pole vault, finishing with the exact same mark of 3.35m 10' 11 ¾, tying for 7^th place overall. Moving on to the high jump, Justin Johnston would further strengthen his outing for the Spires by finishing in the top 10 with a final mark of 1.81m 5' 11 ¼.

The men's side also showed out in the 1-mile event with Austin Howell finishing 4^th overall with a final time of 4:26.86. USM teammates and familiar XC faces, Prince Ntozo (4:29.79) and Parker, O'Dell (4:33.39) would finish in 6^th and 8^th place, respectively. Austin Howell would come out strong again in the men's 600-meter run with a 7^th place finish and a time of 1:25.43 that would land him #5 in all KCAC

The Spire Track & Field team can now look ahead to build upon this momentum and further their strengths this weekend when they hit the road to familiar territory in Maryville, Missouri as they give it their all at the Coach Richard Alsup Open hosted by the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State University with events slated to start at 11:00 a.m. Follow along with all Spire T&F action with live stats from Black Squirrel Timing, as well as visiting the T&F schedules on both the men's and women's pages to view the meet schedule and information for Saturday's action in Missouri.