MANHATTAN, Kan. – North Texas track and field opened the 2019 season at the Kansas State Invitational as the men and women each went 3-1 on the day with wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, UMKC, and Langston, highlighted by a school record from Brock Hottel on pole vault Saturday inside Ahearn Fieldhouse.
 
"It was a great day," director of track and field Carl Sheffield said. "We got exactly what we were hoping for at this competition. It gives us valuable information about where we are in our training, and what we need to do to prepare for February."
 
Hottel, a freshman, vaulted to a program-best 5.20 meters in his first collegiate meet to earn first place honors while breaking Jordan Wehr's record set during the 2009 season. 
 
Other first-place finishers for the UNT men included Darien Porter in the 60-meter dash with a personal record time of 6.79, and Joseph Squire in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal best of 8.19 seconds. Ziphion Reevey was the top finisher in the 200 meters at 22.80 seconds in his first meet as a Mean Green.
 
Matthew Morgan paced the long distance runners by posting his best performance in the 3,000-meters for a third-place finish.
 
Breanna Eckels provided a strong showing for the Mean Green women after redshirting last year due to injury. In the long jump, Eckels fouled all but one attempt, but her lone mark of 5.97 meters garnered her top honors and was a personal record. In her first meet back, Eckels also posted a career-best in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.66 for third place.
 
Alia Holmes, in her first meet for North Texas, was the first finisher in the 60-meter dash by crossing the finish line in 7.55 seconds. Cecily Edwards grabbed second place in the event at 7.63 to give the Mean Green a 1-2-3 finish.
 
The weight throwing trio of Haley Walker, Ashlynn Smart, and Jaleisa Shaffer each improved upon their career-bests. Walker took seventh place with a toss of 15.38 meters as Smart was a slot behind at 15.28, and Shaffer posted a throw of 14.38 for a 10^th-place showing.
 
"It was good to see our young team step up to the competition," Sheffield said. "There were teams here today that we should have competed strongly against. We also did well against Big 12 competition without competing everyone in their best events. We'll take the best of our performances this weekend out to Albuquerque next week for a bigger competition."
 
Men's Team scores: (3-1)
KSU 99 - UNT 80
UNT 78 - UAPB 51
UNT 80 - UMKC 46
UNT 85 - Langston 34
 
Women's Team Scores: (3-1)
KSU 90 - UNT 51
UNT 83- UMKC 50
UNT 82 - UAPB 47
UNT 87 - Langston 26