The University of Illinois Springfield indoor track and field teams were split over the weekend between the Greyhound Invitational and Samford Open.
 
The top highlight came at the Samford Open where Blake Jones set an NCAA Automatic mark in the 5,000m. He will become the first men's national qualifier for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships after running a 14:02.84. He finished second out of 22 runners in the event. Also in the top-10 was Tyler Pasley with a tenth-place time of 14:45.57.
 
In the women's 5,000m, Savannah Brannan came in third with a time of 17:50.96. Lexi Throne finished in 19:02.08 and was sixth overall. In the women's mile run, Gloria Esarco was sixth in the race with a mark of 5:00.75.
 
At the Greyhound Inviational, two Prairie Stars had runner-up finishes in the mile run. Cayden Kirkham accomplished it on the men's side with a time of 4:36.16, and Alexa Thomsen was second in the women's race with a mark of 5:29.09.
 
Two other men's runners had top-five finishes in Jacob Landon in the mile (4:54.03), and Ryan Jones in the 3,000m (8:49.44). In the women's mile race, Jade Anderson was third (5:31.19), and Morgan Suttles came in fifth (5:37.20).
 
UIS will be in action next Saturday at the Herschel Neil Invitational in Maryville, Mo.