Missouri Southern’s men’s track and field team has kicked off the 2010 outdoor season with 5 provisional qualifying marks.

The men picked up two provisionals at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational on March 27, with sophomore Seth Hackney winning the title in the shotput with a distance of 16.05m and junior Corey Reynolds in the high jump with a provisional height of 2.05m.

Last weekend at the John McDonnell Invitational at the University of Arkansas, the men picked up three more provisionals.

“We had a pretty good weekend at Arkansas,” Head Coach Tom Rutledge said.  “We were the only Division-II school competing with Division-I schools. We have guys that can really compete on that level, and that is the level we like to compete on.”

Sophomore Aki Nummela placed tenth in the 1500m and earned a provisional and a new school record time of 3:50.06. Juniors Corey Reynolds and Chris Brown finished second and third in the high jump.  

The men competed this week at the Kansas University Relays on Wednesday and Thursday, then are off to Central Missouri Relays.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Rutledge said.  “What will catch us in the conference meet is depth.  Central Missouri, Pitt, and Emporia State have a lot of people that score in so many different places. It will make the conference meet very tough.”