Ames, IA - The Yellowjacket men's and women's track teams were in Ames, Iowa Friday and Saturday competing at the Iowa State Open.

This weekends meet sported several large and small schools and was a great test for Coach Daniel Alvarado and his team in its season opener.

"I thought we competed well today," said Alvarado after the meet. "We've been battling some injuries so we were a little short-handed today but that's not uncommon this time of the year. It was a great way to kick off the season," he added.

The men's team was paced by long distance runner Etaslon Kabura. Kabura ran a solid 3000 meter run finishing a team-high 7th place with a time of 9:06.15. Other men's notables included Nicholas Gaitan finishing 9.09 in the 60 meter hurdle. Keith Mayfield threw 13.22 meters in the shot-put coming in 11th place.

The women were led at the open by sprinters Marriah Willis and Jaymie Willis. Mariah ran strong 200 and 600 meter races coming in 44th and 31st respectively. Jaymie ran the 400 meter in 1:03.59 coming in 34th place. Senior Alice Ross and junior Jami Ruckman both competed in the 3000 meter run coming in 6th and 10th place. Ross ran a 11.32. 71 and Ruckman a 12.17.31.

"All in all this was strong opener," added Alvarado. "Now we'll look to get full strength, continue to work and improve in practice and try to peak at conference in February," he finished.

The Jackets will compete again next weekend at the KU Jayhawk Classic in Lawrence, KS. Stay tuned to GUjackets.com for continuing coverage of the men's and women's track teams and all of Jacket athletics.