SPOKANE, Wash. -- Montana Tech's men's 4x100-meter relay solidified its place in the NAIA national championship Saturday and broke a program record in the process. The quartet of Adam Schrader, Morgan McClernan, Matthew Moreni, and Will Wagner ran the four-man race in 3:18.01, the 24th-best time in the NAIA this season and good enough for national 'B' standard that qualified the Orediggers for the NAIA meet.

McClernan and Zach Merrifield each improved upon their own program records for the Oredigger track & field program at the Whitworth Invitational as well.

McClernan raced to fourth in the men's 60-meter hurdles at Spokane's The Podium, stopping the watches at 8.31 seconds to improve on his own Tech record in the event by .07 seconds. That time ranks 34th in the NAIA this season.

Merrifield also topped his own Oredigger record, this one in the 60m dash. The freshman covered the sprint in 6.92 seconds in the meet's semifinals to best his own program-record time. He then raced the final 6.96 to place seventh.

Nicolo Lancini also enjoyed his time at the meet, putting up a season-best triple jump (14.18m) to win the event.

In semifinals on the women's side, Jadyn Vermillion continued her fantastic senior season with a 7.74-second race in the 60m dash. That time put her second all-time at Montana Tech and 34th this year in the NAIA. Vermillion followed that up with a seventh-place run in finals (7.78).

Freshman Ayla Janzen also posted a pair of podium finishes for the Oredigger women, taking third in the triple jump (10.71m) and sixth in the 60m hurdles (8.98).

The Orediggers also competed in Pocatello, Idaho at the Mountain State Games for a second-straight day. Alyssa Jany set the pace at that meet with a collegiate-best 3,000m run (10:57.09) to place 31st.

Montana Tech's track & field teams will wrap up the regular-season portion of the indoor schedule Thursday with a trip to Bozeman for Montana State's Big Sky Tuner.

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