AZUSA, Calif.  A trio of Mountaineers on Friday opened up Western's stay at the two-day Franson Last Chance Meet at Azusa Pacific University's Cougar Athletic Stadium.

Sprinters Myia Dantzler and Jada Hynds were the first to step onto the track, competing in the preliminary heats of the women's 100-meter dash.

Dantzler raced her way into the event's three semifinal heats, placing 21st in the prelims with a time of 12.03 seconds. Hynds, 30th in 12.32 seconds, was just 11/100ths of a second shy of advancing.

Seeking to earn an NCAA provisional time in the event (11.81), Dantzler crossed the finish in the semis with a time of 11.97, placing 19th and missing out on advancing to the championship heat by 0.36 seconds.

Both Dantzler and Hynds will be members of Western's 4x100m relay on Saturday.

Late in the evening on Friday the Mountaineers' Esteban Deniz made his way to the oval, running in the fourth heat of the men's 5,000m run timed finals.

Out of 108 competitors in the event Deniz placed 12th, posting a time of 14 minutes, 14.85 seconds.

Deniz, already with an NCAA provisional time in the event (14:09.45), was looking to improve upon his time that entered the weekend 41st on the NCAA Division II national performance list.

UP NEXT
Saturday's event schedule opens with the women's 4x100 with Dantzler, Hynds, Sakara Harrison and Kaiya Firor racing one circuit of the track.

Later in the afternoon, Sammie Bretz will participate in the women's high jump, and on the track both Firor and Kelia Portis will run in the women's 400m hurdles. Soon after, Harrison will step into the blocks for the 200m dash.

In the final race of the night, Jackson Schwartz will compete in the men's 3,000m steeplechase.