Fueled by three first place finishes and six second place finishes, the Pitt track and field… Fueled by three first place finishes and six second place finishes, the Pitt track and field team opened its indoor season Dec. 6 at the Golden Flash Gala in Kent, Ohio.

Grabbing the top spots for the Panthers were Jeryl Wilborn, Kimberly Lyles, and the men’s 4 x 4,000-meter relay team of Chris Anderson, Ryan Smith, Troy Roberson and Anthony Pelham.

Wilborn took the victory in the men’s 1,000-meter race in a time of two minutes and 27.68 seconds, earning him a Big East and Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletics of America championships qualifying time.

Lyles dashed to the top spot in a Big East and Eastern College Athletic Conference championships qualifying time of 24.62 seconds in the 200-meter race. Lyles also took second place in the 60-meter race, which earned her another qualifying time in both the Big East and ECAC championships.

The men’s 4 x 400 team of Anderson, Smith, Roberson and Pelham posted another Big East qualifying time, finishing in 3:16.0.

“Many of our athletes trained through this meet not backing off of their training and to see them perform this well is very encouraging,” head coach Alonzo Webb said.

Taking home runner-up honors for Pitt were Mike Diano, Trenace Elliott, Nicole Vann, Tamara McGill and the women’s 4 x 400-meter relay team of Lyles, Elliott, Janine Jones and Erica Johnson.

Diano not only took second place in the mile, but also posted a new personal best of 4:23.8. Elliott raced to a Big East qualifying time of 2:18 in the women’s 800-meter race, while Vann brought home another Big East and ECAC qualifying time for the women’s team in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.64 seconds.

In the women’s pentathlon, McGill recorded a personal best in points with 3,489 and in doing so qualified for the ECAC championships in the high jump. The women’s 4 x 400 team of Lyles, Elliott, Janine Jones and Erica Johnson were edged out by University of Florida, however their time of 3:47.2 was good enough to earn a berth in the Big East and ECAC championships.

In addition to the 23 total Big East Conference qualifying marks and the 10 ECAC/IC4A qualifying standards met, there were two school records that fell.

Marissa Dudek eclipsed the record for the women’s pole vault, establishing the new mark at 3.49 meters. While Dudek soared to new heights, Amanda Walker launched the shot put 15.08 meters to establish a new school mark.

“Coming in, I was expecting our team to perform well, but to do that well was mind boggling,” Webb said. “In fact many of our athletes were even in different events than they’re typically in because we were training through the meet.”

The Panthers return to action this weekend as they travel back to Kent for the Black Squirrel Classic.