Pittsburg, Kan. – The Missouri Southern men’s (No. 14 ranked) and women’s (No. 21 ranked) track & field teams traveled to Pittsburg, Kan. for the third time this indoor season to compete in the PSU Gorilla Classic last weekend. 

The Lions have had great success in Pittsburg this season. For the women’s, senior Kaylee Morgan and freshman Emily Presley have both won events at PSU, while setting personal and Southern records. Senior Jaycee Thomas has shined best at PSU winning four different events in two trips to PSU. 

To the PSU Gorilla Classic this past weekend, Seniors Melanie Bower and Morgan both broke school records. Bower vaulted to a height of 13-01.75, outdoing the previous vault record set two weeks ago at PSU by Presley. Bower won the event also. The mark ranks fourth in division II and is tops in the MIAA this season. It is also an automatic qualifying mark to NCAA Nationals.

In the long jump event, Morgan placed second only behind a division I athlete and broke a 21-year old record in the event. She leaped to a distance of 19-01.25, breaking the previous record by nearly a foot. The mark ranks second-best in the MIAA this year.

Senior Brittani Regan placed second in the triple jump, also finishing behind only a division I athlete. She leaped to a provisional distance of 39-07.75 as that mark ranks seventh nationally and third-best in the MIAA. Sophomore Allie Heckemeyer placed sixth in the event.

Vincent Kiprop won and broke Southern’s 3k record, one that stood for a little over two months. His senior teammate Eric Schott set the record on the very same track. Kiprop finished in a time of 8:20.26, also setting a new facility record. That is good for the top 3k time in the MIAA so far this indoor season. 

The 4x400m relay team of Desmond Williams, Jacob Sholl, Thomas Hawkins and Brandon Callicutt placed 13th in the event, but set a new MSSU school record in the process, racing to a time of 3:20.39, besting the previous school record set in 2014.

Sophomore Kennan Harrison of Carthage High School won the triple jump event with a provisional distance of 49-01.50. That mark ranks first in the MIAA.

Freshmen Cody Vogt and Callicutt placed third and 13th respectively, in the high jump event.

Southern will be competing two more times at PSU as PSU will host both the MIAA Indoor Championships and the NCAA D-II National Indoor Championships. 

The Lions hit the road today on their way to the University of Nebraska to compete in the Nebraska Tune-up and also compete in the UCM Classic over 250+ miles away from Lincoln, Neb.