IOWA CITY - The Iowa Central track and field team opened their indoor season here Friday and Saturday at the Hawkeye Invitational.
The field included several NCAA Div. I teams including Iowa, Bradley, Northern Iowa and fellow junior colleges Indian Hills and Hawkeye.
Christian Collins earned a victory in the high jump, clearing 2.00m. Hunter Klimek and Martin Lamou each added silvers for the Tritons.
Klimek was second in the 3,000 in 8:45 and Lamou second in the triple jump at 15.49m.
Roman Kulehov had two Top-5 finishes, taking third in the triple jump (14.78m) and fifth in the long jump (7.11m).
Robin Aguilar Gonzalez was fourth in the 1,000 (2:30), Lamou sixth in the long jump (7.03m), Cassius Havis sixth in the 1,000 (2:34), Brady Hogan eighth in the 3,000 (9:02), Ayenew Devany ninth in the 3,000 (9:03), Aries Scott ninth in the long jump (6.73m) and the 4x400 was 10th (3:28).
Lamou's mark ranks third-best in program history in the triple jump and Kuleshov is fifthin the event. Both hit the NJCAA indoor national meet marks in both the triple jump and long jump.
Gonzalez earned a spot at nationals in the 1,000, Klimek in the 3,000 and Collins in the high jump.
"It was a good first meet, a chance for us to assess where we are both individually and as team," said Dee Brown, Executive Director of Track at Iowa Central. "We certainly identified some areas we need to work on in the coming weeks. Our jumps crew is off to a great start, qualifying three guys in five events.
"Both Martin and Roman qualified in both the long jump and the triple. We know they have a lot more in the tank yet."
On the women's side, Adeyah Brewster finished fourth in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.65. Chloe Garcia Grafing was sixth in the 1,000 in 3:11 and Shaunti Longfellow right behind in a time of 3:22.
Taylor McCreedy placed eighth in the 3,000 (11:03) and Zinash Valen 10th in the 3,000 (11:34).
Brewster clocked the sixth-best time in the 60 hurdles and qualified for the national meet.
"We had a solid season opener today with some NJCAA qualifying marks and some Top-10 all-time marks," head coach Nick Ekel said. "We also found out that our students are right where they need to be in their training progressions.
"Our coaching staff is excited to watch these students meet their goals over the next seven weeks."
During the throwing portion of the invite on Friday, former Triton Tyler Lienau won the men's weight throw with a meet record toss of 21.38m. Lienau is a current Hawkeye senior.
Iowa Central competes Friday and Saturday in Brookings, S.D. at the SDSU Div. II Invitational and Jim Emmerich Alumni Invitational.
-By Dana Becker