The Falcons began their outdoor season similar to how they ended their indoor: with strong performances and new personal records in Raleigh, N.C.

Jeanette Pettigrew, Tina Perrine and Kori Reiser all gave great efforts and hit five automatic qualifying marks at the Raleigh Relays, a two-day meet.

Redshirt sophomore Andrea Alt started the meet for the Falcons, competing in the 5000 event. She started the day off by finishing with a 17:20.62, beating her personal best by almost four seconds. Pettigrew started the run for the team as she hit three of the five qualifying marks.

Falcons’ head track and field coach Lou Snelling said Pettigrew felt good about hitting the marks and is ready for the rest of the season.

“She was excited with what she did, and being a fifth year senior she was focused on the event and knows that we have still a long way to go,” Snelling said.

Freshman Makenzie Wheat continued her impressive first year by throwing 46 in the shot put. This placed her in 10th place in the history of the event.

Snelling and the track staff were impressed by her continued progress so far in the season.

“She’s gotten better … she ended in a pretty impressive spot in the outdoor season and I think she can do the same in the outdoor season,” Snelling said.

The Falcons continued their success on the second day, with Reiser and Perrine hitting two more auto marks in the hammer throw event. Reiser, in her first collegiate meet, came in first place with a throw of 182-feet-6.

Perrine followed up with a distance of 181-feet-6, coming in second and hitting an auto mark.

Pettigrew also continued her excellent start by setting a new personal best, hitting a time of 23.88 seconds in the 200. This gave the Falcons their fifth auto mark in the meet.

The team only had seven players earn auto marks in the 2013 outdoor season.

As a whole, Snelling said he was proud of the results that the team produced.

“We had a lot of positives on the meet as a whole,” he said.

Snelling also said that despite being early in the season, they’re looking more toward the MAC championship and being prepared for the championship meet in the end.

“It’s a little bit more about what we have to do to get ready for the end of the year,” Snelling said. “The big picture is we’re training at a pretty high level and getting ready for the outdoor MAC championship.”

The Falcons’ next meet will be on Saturday, when they will compete in the Ohio Cherry Blossom Invitational in Athens, Ohio.