Upper Iowa track and field kicked off their season with a fifth-place finish at the Hilltop Invitational. Twelve athletes competed for the Peacocks who finished with 76 points as a team.

Myah Brinker led the way for UIU in the field events, finishing in first place out of 18 competitors in the weight throw with a 14.89m throw, which earned the Peacocks ten points. Katie McEnery came in third place in the women's pole vault with a 2.40m mark, accumulating six points. Dereka Henderson and Genevieve Chenoweth both competed in the shot-put event, finishing in 13^th and 15^th place.

Haylie Hutchinson had a great start to her collegiate career, finishing in 1^st place in the 60m Hurdles preliminary round with a time of 9.52. She came in second place in the finals with a time of 9.59, accumulating eight points for UIU. Three Peacocks qualified out of the preliminary round, with Jordan Sekafetz and Leah Ries coming in 5^th and 6^th place. In the finals, Sekafetz came in 6^th place with a time of 10.07 which earned the Peacocks two points and Ries finished in 7^th place with a time of 10.47 which earned the Peacocks another point.

Jillian Dodds also finished in first place in the preliminary rounds of the 60m dash, finishing with a time of 8.15. She came in second place in the finals with a time of 8.19, earning eight more points. Once again, multiple Peacocks finished in 5^th and 6^th place with Kysta Ramirez qualifying with a time of 8.56 and Sekafetz with a time of 8.73. In the finals, Ramirez earned two points with a 6^th place finish and Sekafetz earned a point after finishing in 7^th.

Haylie Hutchinson also came in third place in the 400m, running a time of 1:04.45 which awarded her six points. Mackenzie Rader placed 5^th in the event, with a time of 1:05.75 and two points.

Jillian Dodds earned ten points after her second place finish in the 200m, as she accumulated a time of 28.06. Kysta Ramirez added another eight points after finishing in 4^th with a time of 28.93.

Eryn Sabelka came in 4^th place in the 800m, earning four points with a time of 2:38.44.

Jadyz Schultz competed in the one-mile run, where she came in 12^th place out of 19 runners, with a time of 6:24.44.

Dodds, Sabelka, Rader, and Hutchinson competed in the 4 x 400m relay where they finished in second place. They combined for a time of 4:17.51 and earned the Peacocks final eight points.

Mount Mercy came in first place with 114 total points and Culver-Stockton and Cornell College finished with a tie for second place with 92 points.

UIU will be competing at Wartburg College next week in the Friday Knight Lights Indoor Meet. The meet will be held on Friday, Jan. 26 with field events beginning at 3:30 p.m. and running events starting at 5:30 p.m.