Several members of the Lions women’s track and field team qualified to compete on Feb. 8 at the Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas.

Junior Kylie Cornman placed 13 with an impressive provisional distance of 47-08.5 in the shot put; the distance earned her a sixth rank in Division II this season.

“As of right now I’m happy with what I’ve been getting, I just need to get a little bit better and I’ve done it before, it just didn’t count, so I know that I can do it,” Cornman said.

“My goal since freshman year has been to make it to nationals and now I have a pretty good ticket.”

Sophomore Melanie Bower made a season best provisional height of 12-01.50, a mark that ranks her 12 in Division II.

The Lions’ distance medley relay team of senior Kaitlyn Belisle, juniors Rachel Schrader, Sydney Potts and Jasmine Hughes placed fourth in the event.

 “We really put a lot of emphasis on the distance medley relay and trying to get that group to the national championship,” Head Coach Patty Vavra said.

The relay team finished with a provisional time of 11:56.60, a sixth ranking time in Division II. Hughes also placed 68 in the 200m.

 “Conference meet is almost upon us, I think we’re ready, as much as we can be. We got a couple weeks to kind of fine-tune, get a little faster. The intensity level goes up this time of year and the volume goes down in the workouts. We’re just trying to get them ready to have their best performances,” Vavra said.

The Lions will be back in action this weekend for the Central Missouri Invite at University of Central Missouri.