CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State College hosted athletes from Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines on Friday and Saturday in the Birds and the Bees Alumni Open to kick off the indoor track season.

The Eagles performed well, with the men's team finishing first out of the three teams in scoring while the women's team was second of three. The Eagle men demonstrated lots of clout in the sprints and also had some excellent results in several field events Saturday to outscored Black Hills State 219 to 146 in the team standings.

Joshua St. Jean, a redshirt freshman from Jamaica, was a double winner while taking first place in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes. His winning times were 6.83 in the 60 and 22.70 seconds in the 200, while St. Jean also ran the fastest preliminary 60 time at 6.91 seconds. CSC senior Esosa Iyengumnwena was the runner-up in the 200 in 22.89 seconds and placed third in the 60 in 6.95 seconds. 

Chadron State junior Ryan Clapper of Yoder, Wyoming won the 400 meters in 49.57 seconds and had numerous teammates close behind as Eagles swept seven of the first eight places in the competition. The runner-up was sophomore Christopher Comier of Sparks. Nev., and freshman Ayden Hartzell of Evanston, Wyoming, was fourth.  
 
As the meet was closing, those three along with Kaden Perez of Mitchell formed the winning 4x400 relay team, which was timed in 3 minutes and 23.19 seconds, more than a second faster than Chadron State's best mark in the relay indoors last season.

Chayton Bynes of Chadron, an All-American triple jumper last season, won the event by leaping 47 feet, 5.5 inches. CSC sophomore Quade Jordan of Encampment, Wyo., had a career-best of 47-9 to win the shot put while leading the Eagles in a one through five sweep in the event.

Theron Miller of Hemingford was the shot put runner-up and junior Caleb Christensen of Guernsey, Wyoming, placed third and also took second in the 35-pound weight throw with his first mark of more than 50 feet.   

Another winner for the Chadron State men was sophomore Ethan Norris of Sundance, Wyoming, who took first place in the heptathlon by scoring 4,375 points, some 274 points more than the runner-up.

Two Chadron State women's track and field won events during the meet. Sophomore Camila Salvucci from Argentina nearly matched her season-best of a year ago by going 38 feet, 2 inches in the triple jump, and University of Wyoming transfer Shelby Ekwall of Yoder, Wyoming, won the shot put with a heave just a half inch shy of 43 feet.

Black Hills State won the team scoring on the women's side with 184 points, ahead of Chadron State's 133. 

The Eagles are done competing until after Christmas, with the next scheduled competition on January 17 at the BHSU David Little Invite in Spearfish.