BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Following the first day of competition in the Gulf South Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Lee University Flames hold a 21 point lead. Lee has amassed 64 points with five of 17 events completed. UAH is second with 43 points and Montevallo rounds out the top three with 37 points. The second and final day of the championships will be held on Friday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The Flames placed five runners in the top six of the 5000-meter run. Edimo Ninteretse was the individual champion with a time of 14:35.08. Tucker Wright was just behind in second (14:35.09). Kylian Boulanger (14:46.17) placed third, Luke Gaddis (14:52.06) was fourth and Chris Ross (14:54.25) was sixth.

The distance medley relay team of Stephen Clark, Eli Cobble, William Adkins and Pierre Chauveau combined for a first-place time of 9:44.24. They finished over 11 seconds ahead of the foursome from UAH.

Shaw Helfrich led three other Lee men into the top eight of the pole vault. Helfrich won with a clearance of 4.80 meters. Silas Fulford placed fifth, Jacob Atkinson was sixth and Wyatt Irvine was eighth with each clearing 4.35 meters.

Two of the three Flames in the long jump scored. Jacob Salters finished seventh with a jump of 6.36 meters. Timothy Doolittle covered 6.33 meters for eighth place and Hudson Hunt was 10^th with a mark of 6.26 meters.

Ian Trill placed eighth in the shot put with a throw of 14.94 meters to add one more point to the Lee tally. Spencer Myren was ninth with a measurement of 14.53 meters. Rodney Ngezimani's throw of 14.06 meters put him in 11^th and Carrington Tate finished 18^th at 12.19 meters.

Four of the seven events in the heptathlon were completed on Thursday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1000-meter run remaining. Jake McMilan of Mississippi College leads the field with 2,770 points with Helfrich (2,676) and Cameron Stine (2,582) in second and third, respectively. Fulford is in eighth place with 2,394 points and Doolittle is currently ninth at 2,316 points.

Two of the four Lee entrants in the 60-meter prelims advanced to Friday's final. Cooper Giddens had the third-fastest qualifying time at 6.91 seconds, and Gage Whited was sixth at 6.99 seconds. Aiden Shaw (7.01) was 10^th and Helfrich finished 18^th (7.16).

In the 60-meter hurdles, Isaac Iosia qualified for the final with a sixth-place time of 8.48 seconds. Fulford claimed the final spot in the final with a qualifying time of 8.66 seconds. Helfrich stopped the clock at 8.74 for 10^th place.

The Flames claimed the top three qualifying spots in the 200-meter dash. Shaw was the top qualifier at 21.25 seconds. Giddens was second (21.55) and Whited was third (21.68).