Emporia, Kan. – The SBU men's and women's track and field team began the NCAA Division II National Championships Thursday, with five of their 10 qualifiers competing. Every Bearcat was able to finish in the top-17 in each of their event but were unable to reach the podium.
 
Angel Dickerson started out the day with an 11^th place finish in the long jump, just .05 away from reaching the finals. Later in the day he took the track in the 100-meter preliminaries where he took 12^th place improving five spots from his entry position.
 
Fellow sprinter Marcus Jones competed in his first outdoor National Championship battling it out in the 400-meter dash. Jones narrowly missed out on a finals spot with a 12^th place finish, improving nine spots from his entry seed.
 
Following up on her GLVC Track Athlete of the Year award, Stephanique Dean entered her third straight outdoor National Championship. In the three separate events she qualified for, Dean only competed in the 100-meter dash Thursday. Dean finished with a time of 11.91 for 16^th place.
 
Seniors Gavin Duchscherer and Olvia Littleton got the honor of ending their college careers at the NCAA Championships, each competing at the National level for the first time. Duchscherer ran in the 3,000-meter steeplechase taking 14^th place, just two spots away from advancing to the finals. Littleton ended the day in the longest race of the entire event, the 10,000-meter run, taking 17^th place. Both Duchscherer and Littleton set new SBU records in their respective event throughout the season.
 
While Dickerson, Jones, Duchscher, and Littleton's seasons have come to an end, six Bearcats still have the opportunity to compete. On Friday, Dean will take to the track again in the 200-meter preliminaries at 5:45 p.m. She will join her teammates Laura Dixon, Brianna Lord, and Madison Davis at 8:10 p.m. in the 4x400-meter relay preliminaries.