AMES — Things got off to a smooth start for the Southwestern Community College track program here on Saturday, as the team competed well at the Iowa State Track and Field Open.

“It was an exciting day,” head coach Bill Huntington said. “We talked about this with the kids, 30 or 40 years from now when you look back at you ran track, you realize you were the first kids that ran Southwestern varsity track and field. It was good to get that first one out of the way. I think it was really exciting to see how competitive we were, because we were extremely competitive.”

Sophomore Kalli McCann of Osceola had a strong race in the 3,000 meter run, finishing sixth overall with a time of 11:29.66, which puts her in the ballpark for qualifying for the national meet.