KEVIN JENISON

GoSycamorews.com

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three of the best hurdlers in the nation reached the finals of the 60 meter hurdles at the Tyson Invitational including Indiana State's Greggmar Swift who tied his career best with the fastest time in the semifinals at 7 .72 seconds.

Swift, who ranked fourth nationally heading into the meet, was back in the starting blocks an hour later against two other top ranked hurdlers in Caleb Cross of Arkansas (ranked third in the nation) and Keiron Stewart of Texas (ranked fifth).

“It was a great race by Greggmar who just got caught a little bit getting out of the blocks,” John McNichols, Indiana State men's track & field coach, said. “It's not a bad position to be sitting in going into the nationals. Betz had a nice race and is in some pretty good company on our all-time list and Pounds had a big win in a very difficult environment to throw in.”

The Sycamore junior ran a career best in the finals with a time of 7.68 seconds but that was only good for third place. Cross, competing on his home circuit, took home the win in 7.65 seconds with Stewart second in 7.66 seconds.

Swift opened with a 7.85 in the preliminary round and was clocked in 7.72 in the semifinals. Sycamore teammate Adarius Washington ran 8.04 in the preliminary round and 8.12 in the semifinals but did not advance to the finals.

The lone winner on the day for the Sycamores was Brandon Pounds who captured the men's weight throw with a distance of 69-feet-3.5-inches (21.12 meters). Pounds was seven feet better than Missouri's Jacob Bullinger who had a throw of 62-feet-6.5-inches (19.06 meters). Indiana State teammate Chris Fields placed fifth with a throw of 60-feet-8.5-inches (18.50 meters).

Dustin Betz ran to a fourth place finish in the college mile and established a career best with a 4:06.71 finish. That is also the fourth fastest mile in Indiana State history. Only three others have run fastest: Jeremiah Vaughan (4:04.04 in 2010); Sean Bowman (4:06.33 in 2007); and Jordan Fife (4:06.36 in 2007).

Leeann Michl ran to a sixth place finish in the 800 meter invitational race with a time of 2:09.58. Stacia Weatherford and Carmelia Stewart ran well in the women's 60 meter hurdle preliminaries but failed to advance to the semifinals with Weatherford 21st overall in 8.63 with Stewart 26th in 8.75.

Felisha Johnson competed in the women's weight throw but fouled on each of her three attempts.

Johnson will be back in action on Saturday in the women's shot put (12 p.m., ET) while John Mascari is scheduled to compete in the men's 3,000 meters (4:30 p.m., ET). The Sycamore women's 4x400 meter relay team of Macey  Black, Weatherford, Michl, and Shelby Higginbottom will run at 6:40 p.m. (ET).