Kent State men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to two different invitationals this weekend — the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana and one a little closer to home, the Akron Invitational.

After the first day on Friday, track and field and cross country director Bill Lawson had positive things to say following the teams’ performances.

“Overall, everybody did well that performed tonight,” Lawson said. “We have most of our athletes competing tomorrow, but we did well tonight and made a strong statement on the first day.”

Lawson said he was especially pleased with the performance in the Meyo Invitational.

Lawson had high praise for sophomore Jorian Ordway and fifth-year senior Kelsey McAlpine.

“Kelsey really performed well,” Lawson said. “She was definitely one of the standouts from tonight.”

McAlpine competed in the women’s 5,000-meter run with junior Rachel Slingluff. McAlpine had the highest finish in the event for the team, placing 22nd out 53 competitors with a time of 17:18.43. Slingluff finished 33rd with a time of 17:34.34.

Ordway registered a 27th-place run out of 74 competitors in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.92 seconds.

“Jorian had a great run for us in the 200-meter,” Lawson said. “She continues to run at a high level.”

Freshman Jennilyn Krumpe had the best finish for Kent State in the women’s 600-meter run when she notched 13th place with a time of 1:34.55.

Junior Danny Young had the best finish for the team in the men’s 600-meter run as he placed 17th with a time of 1:24.47.

Although Lawson couldn’t comment too much about the Akron Invitational, he said the team will have more people competing there on Saturday.

The duo of junior throwers Reggie Jagers and Matthias Tayala did well Friday as the two respectively finished first and second out of 13 competitors in the men’s discus throw.

Jagers had a throw of 59.19 meters, and Tayala finished with a throw of 58.15 meters.

The teams will send more athletes to the field Saturday in the final day of invitational events in South Bend, Indiana and Akron.

Contact Andrew Bugel at [email protected].