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Complete Day One Results: Men | Women
Photo Galleries: Day 1 Part 1 | Day 1 Part 2

BEREA, Ohio – For the team that was ranked No. 1 eight straight weeks by the USTFCCCA, the McMurry University men have their work cut out for them as they stand in seventh after day one of the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.

Stephen Toler and Thomas Dimitri combined to score 6.5 points in the men's pole vault while both the 4X100 and 4X400-meter relay teams qualified for the finals to be run Saturday. Terry Smith and Kevin Cunningham qualified in the 400-meter hurdles with the finals coming Saturday.

On the women's side, Breana Anderson-Burton ignored her 15th seed that she entered Thursday's long jump with and finished sixth to earn her fourth career all-America award. She jumped 18-05.00 to score three points for McMurry's women in her only event.

Holly Rollins, who had the No. 5 seed coming into the meet in the women's pole vault cleared the first height of 11-05, but did not advance past that mark and was left out of the finals. Head coach Barbara Crousen said that Rollins' right knee had flared up during warm-ups and affected the 2008 champion's performance.

In the men's pole vault, Cory Altenberg narrowly missed all-America status finishing in ninth place while freshman Brock Steinbock tied for 11th and neither scored points. Toler, the No. 2 seed entering into the meet placed fourth to score five points, and Dimitri's tie for seventh place gave McMurry 1.5 points.

Despite bringing in the best two marks in the nation, neither Stryker Pena nor Gavan Bass qualified for the finals in the long jump. Both athletes jumped over 24 feet during the regular season, however, Pena's best jump Thursday was 22-03.50 and Bass' was 22-01.50. Kenneth Turner and Josh Zu-Bolton each competed in the 200-meter dash, but failed to qualify for the final round.

Both athletes will get a chance at redemption in the next two days. Bass will run in the 100-meter dash along with teammate Zu-Bolton in the preliminary rounds scheduled for 4:55 p.m. EST. Pena is slated to compete in the high jump Saturday at 2:30 p.m. EST.

Bass, Zu-Bolton, Trevon Odom and Turner combined to run the third-best time in the 4X100-meter relay trials Thursday with a time of 41.03 seconds. The team finished behind Methodist College's time of 40.85 seconds and Wheaton's mark of 40.93. The finals are scheduled for 1:10 p.m. EST Saturday

The 4X400-meter tandem of Smith, Cunningham, Marcus Thompson and Kolby Barnhill made the finals with a time of 3:14.05, which ranks sixth out of the eight teams remaining. The finals are scheduled for 4:55 p.m. EST Saturday.