(MANKATO, Minn.) – The Central Missouri Mules and Jennies have opened up the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships with some success, earning two All-American honors during the first day of the two-day event. Seniors Leander Toney and Lindsay Lettow earned All-American status in the high jump and long jump, respectively.
      Toney was one of five remaining jumpers when he went out with a mark of 2.15 meters, just 0.01 meters short of the mark Toney recorded to win the MIAA title last month. The senior picked up five points for the Mules, who currently sit 12^th in the team standings after four events.
      Lettow jumped a distance of 5.81 meters after fouling on her first two attempts to qualify for the finals. The senior was unable to best that mark with three more attempts, and placed seventh, picking up two points for UCM. Sophmore Erin Alewine finished just outside the points, placing ninth with a mark of 5.76 meters.
      Along with the pair of podium finishes today, The Mules and Jennies picked up two important qualifiers into tomorrow night's finals, in the 60 meter hurdles and mile run. Sophomore Ralph Watson placed fourth in his heat and sixth overall to earn a bid into the finals in the 60 meter hurdles, with a personal record time of 7.95 seconds. Senior Laban Sialo, who is also qualified for the 5,000m run, advanced to tomorrow's mile run finals by placing sixth in the preliminaries with a time of 4:24.04.
      The men's heptathlon kicked off the championship event, with seniors Darius Walker and Shawn Boss placing third and seventh in the 60 meter dash. Walker went on to win the long jump and shot put portions of the event, and leads the heptathlon after four events with 3,034 points, a 90-point advantage over second place. Boss is sitting eighth in the heptathlon standings with three events remaining, with 2,764 points.
      Lettow, along with sophomore Zoe Sharplin also competed in the 60 meter hurdle preliminaries, but both failed to advance to the finals, placing 12^th and 15^th, respectively. As a team, the Jennies are 19^th in the team standings with two points after four events.
      Day two of the Championships kick off tomorrow morning with the conclusion of the men's heptathlon, as well as the women's pentathlon, starting at 9:00 a.m.