ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Baptist men's and women's track and field teams competed at the famed Penn Relays on Saturday. The Spartans competed in the Olympic Development race at Franklin Field. Within each of the two races there were actually three separate races: masters, open and junior divisions.

On the men's side, Alex Chavez and Nick Christie were entered in the Open men's 10,000 Meter race walk. Christie finished the race in second place behind Canadian, Evan Dunfee.  He improved his time by 54 seconds over his last 10,000 Meter race held in December.  Chavez finished the day in fourth place and set a new personal record by 21 seconds.

For the women, Nirvana Zalba competed in the Open division against competitors such as 2012 Olympian Maria Michta. Zalba finished with a time of 24:17 which puts her first on the NAIA performance list by 1:12.  Not to be outdone, Molly Josephs took third place in the Junior Women's race with a time of 26:16 which will move her to fifth place on the NAIA performance list.

Next up for men's and women's track and field teams is the Billy Hayes in Indiana on Friday, May 3 and the Hillsdale Classic in Hillsdale, Michigan May 8 and 9.