COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Grace College track and field team began its pursuit of two national titles on Wednesday and Thursday.

Grace opened up competition at the 2023 NCCAA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Columbia International University.

The men's team is seeking to defend their back-to-back crowns, while the women are looking for their first track title in program history.

Thursday's running events included six preliminary races and four final races. Grace won all four of the final races to begin the meet in spectacular fashion.

The women's 4x800-meter relay kicked off the finals by claiming gold. Cassandra Cross, Morgan Welch, Esther Cameron and Tara Friesen won the race in 9:29.24, nine seconds quicker than the second-place finishers.

The men's 4x800 made it a clean sweep. Luke Smith, Maurice Macklin, Brady Hunsberger and Tanner Sallee broke the tape with a first-place time of 7:45.14.

Carmen Trier claimed the 10,000 title with an official time of 41:10.83, and Madelyn Skidmore grabbed third place at 41:44.48.

Brandon Kleber made it 4-for-4 for Grace on Thursday. The sophomore won the men's 10,000 with his race of 32:04.24. Justin Van Prooyen was fourth for the Lancers (33:23.11), and Hayden Mullett also scored points in sixth place (33:50.82).

Brock Lengacher placed fifth in the discus with a launch of 141 feet, and Ethan Brown was fifth in the javelin.

In the women's discus, Grace grabbed fourth and fifth place from Lanae Crowe and Mackenzie DeLong respectively. DeLong also placed third in the javelin.

Makayla Neal finished fourth in the women's heptathlon with a total of 3,224 points.

Emily McCreary finished as the national runner-up in the high jump, clearing 5-feet-1.75.

Friday will conclude NCCAA Nationals with nine field events and 22 final running events.

To follow live results, click here.