FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona track and field picked up nine Big Sky qualifying marks on the first day of the Mountain T's Invitational.

Jessica Weise continues to be a strong presence in the women's shot put, hitting a Big Sky qualifying mark for the third week in a row. Weise finished second overall with a mark of 15.38m. On the men's side, Gus Margiotta narrowly missed a qualifying mark in the men's weight throw when we won that event with a distance of 17.22m.

Shamelle Pless is looking for repeat Big Sky Championships in the women's 200m with her first-place qualifying mark of 24.53. Darriel Banks followed closely in second with another qualifying time of 24.89. Banks is the returning Big Sky Champion in the 60m dash which she qualified for last week and will compete in tomorrow. On the men's side, James Fisher came in second in the men's 200m with a qualifying mark of 21.77. Vernon Jamison narrowly missed the mark with his fourth-place time of 21.90.

Melanie Townsend, Kayla Freeman and Heather LaPlante proved why they brought home a Big Sky Championship in cross country with their sweep of the women's 5000m. All three brought came in with qualifying times of 18:12.26, 18:12.32 and 18:28.38. Teammates Lauren Justus, Taryn Treadaway and Kylee Kieser came in fourth-through-sixth. On the men's side, Alejandro Montano came in second to unattached teammate Matt McElroy with a 5000m qualifying time of 14:54.90.

Returning indoor and outdoor high jump champion Deante Kemper hit a Big Sky mark in the high jump for the third straight week. He finished second with a height of 2.12m behind 2012 National Champion Nick Ross, formally of the University of Arizona.

"I think we got a little better today," said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. "This is a nice meet because we'll get a chance to run, jump and throw two days in a row. We saw some marks tonight that were improvements in every event area."

The Mountain T's continue tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. with Royal Black in the men's heptathlon. Track and field events kick-off at 10 a.m. Live results are available at www.wingfootfinish.com/live.