Marion, Ind. - The DSU men's and women's track and field teams kicked off the 2011 NAIA Outdoor National Track and Field Championships today at Indiana Wesleyan University. The Hawks had ten athletes compete in eleven events.

Tyler Lalim led the Hawk attack in events that were finalized today, placing 10^th in the men's javelin throw with a toss of 56.35 meters.

Kim Schulz was 15^th in the women's javelin competition, throwing 37.45 meters.

Jennifer Hartman finished 16^th in the women's long jump, leaping 5.25 meters.

John Paul Williams sits in 14^th place in the decathlon, having amassed 3004 points through five events. Williams was 8^th in the 100 meters with a time of 11.77 seconds (scoring 697 points). He long jumped 6.46 meters (688), to place 8^th. Williams put the shot 8.41 meters (420) to finish 16^th. He earned 14^th in the high jump for his 1.68 meter (528) leap. He capped off his day of competition with a 9^th place finish in the 400 meter dash (671) running the lapper in 53.24 seconds.

Ismael Arzola placed 5th in his preliminary heat of the 800 meter run with a time of 1:53.86 to advance to the semifinals.

Nathan Magstadt and Jermaine Christie competed in the 110 meter high hurdles preliminaries today. Magstadt ran 14.84 seconds to place 5th in his heat and advances to the semifinals. Christie ran 14.94 seconds to finish 7th in the same heat.

Magstadt also gunned to a time of 54.54 seconds in the preliminaries of the 400 meter intermediate hurdles to place 5th in his heat and qualify for the second round of competition.

Cordero Bonamy and Michael Sands both ran the preliminaries of the 100 meter dash. Bonamy was 5^th in his heat with a time of 10.82 seconds and advanced to the semifinals. Sands was 7^th in his heat with a time of 10.93 seconds.

Kedeshia Simpson was 2^nd in her 100 meter dash preliminary. She bolted to a finishing time of 12.04 seconds in the trial.

National championship action resumes tomorrow, beginning with the second half of the men's decathlon.