Several milestones and records were set by the Central Methodist track & field athletes in their final indoor meet of the regular season. The Bearcat Open, hosted by Northwest Missouri State, featured hundreds of athletes from across the NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA levels.

Highlighting the meet for the Eagles was junior middle-distance runner Dayana Montenegro, who broke both the program and meet record in the 600-yard run. The native of Cali, Colombia, ran the event in 1:22.84, breaking her previous record by more than a second. 

In addition, Montenegro broke the school record in the 400 meters, a mark that had been held for more than 20 years by Hall of Famer Daniela Georgieva. Montenegro wet the new record with a time of 56.90 seconds, hitting the ‘A’ standard to qualify for nationals. 

Senior sprinter Kailey Johnson hit the ‘B’ standard in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.01 seconds. 

The Eagles took the top three places in the high jump competition, led by Renee Finke, who hit a mark of 1.72 meters to hit the ‘A’ standard for national qualification. Senior Delaney Miller placed second with a personal best of 1.69 meters while also hitting the ‘A’ standard. Sophomore Haley Bellamy rounded out the top three podium finishers for CMU with a jump of 1.61 meters.

On the men’s side, Leroy Williams ran the 60-meter hurdles in a new personal best of 8.06 seconds to finish second and qualify for nationals. Chris Adekoya placed second in the finals of the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.76 seconds. In the prelims, he broke the meet record with a time of 6.75 seconds.

In the throwing events, Harrisburg native Brayton Stephenson scored a personal best in the shot put with a toss of 16.02 meters to finish fourth. He also hit the ‘A’ standard for national championship qualification.

Central now turns its attention to the postseason and will compete in the Heart Indoor Conference Championships beginning on Friday, Feb. 16, in Maryville, Mo.