The Barton Community College men's track and field team opened the 2023 indoor season with eight national qualifying performances competing at the Graduate Classic hosted by the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Seven of the Cougars' qualifiers came from the field event performances as Barton mixed its track athletes competing in different events of the season debut to come away with seven top ten placings in the two-day meet.

Leading the field achievements were a trio of qualifiers in the shot put. It took just his second throw for a 3rd place mark for Brandon Lloyd as the sophomore began his season moving up two spots on the all-time list to 5th overall best with a 17.87m (59-07.50). A pair of freshmen joined Lloyd in the event as Christopher Young's 16.59m (54-05.25) and Christopher Crawford's 16.40m (53-09.75) were good for 7th and 8th place respectively of the 28-man field.

Lloyd and Crawford also picked up national tickets from Friday's weight throw competition, Lloyd throwing a 17.05m (55-11.25) while Crawford marked a 16.20m (53-01.75).

Jalen McGee, a two-time seventh place finisher at last year's national indoor championships competing for State Fair Community College, will be headed back to the championships in both the long and high jumps following his Cougar debut runway of 7.08m (23-02.75) to place 4th of the 26-jumper field and rising to a 2.00m (6-06.75) height to finish 9th of the 20-man high riser field.

Barton's lone track qualifying performance came in the 600m as sophomore standout Elijah Mosley took on the 600m for his first time, clocking a 1:18.60 for a program top fifteen time, in placing 3rd of the 24-man start list behind a pair of Iowa State University sprinters.

The Cougars are back on the track next Saturday in Topeka, Kansas, competing in the Washburn Rust Buster at the Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility.

Complete Graduate Classic results