The Barton Community College women's track and field team opened its outdoor season this weekend competing at the Masked Rider Open hosted by Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

The Cougars had eight national qualifying performances amongst their three personal bests efforts and eight top ten placings, highlighted by Kelsie Murrell-Ross' winning the shot put.

Already in the third spot of the program's all-time list, Murrell-Ross bettered her previous best by three inches in the first outdoor meet of her sophomore season to win the event by over two feet over a Texas Tech senior.

Barton added four more national qualifiers in the throwing events, Efe Latham placing third in the hammer throw at 48.39m while Murrell-Ross' first time in the event also met qualifying standards with a 43.80m throw as the duo placed 3rd and 7th respectively.

Latham added the javelin to her national ticket with an 8th place 38.13m throw with Treneese Hamilton placing four spots ahead in 4th spot with a 38.58m throw.

Kay-Lagay Clarke earned the Cougars' lone long jump early national ticket, placing 9th overall with a 5.66m jump with Jasmine Carson tying her personal best with a 19th place 5.04m splash in the sand.

On the track Naiya Morgan recorded two qualifying times, clocking an 11.85 in the 100m for an 11th placing of the 41 entrant field then ninety minutes later taking 8th place in the 54-competitor 200m with a 24.32 time. Antiana Walsh also qualified in the 100m with a 12.10 time to place 19th before a 13th place 200m time of 24.55 but the wind aided clocking eliminated the automatic national bid.

The Cougars head back south for their next meet beginning Thursday in the three-day Texas Relays in Austin hosted by the University of Texas.