JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The Doane men’s 4x400-meter relay team won their preliminary heat and qualified for Saturday’s final to highlight the first day of action for the Tigers Thursday at the NAIA National Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Laith Etmund, Adam Bosley, Vince Martinez and Virgil Mitchell posted a time of 3 minutes, 17.66 seconds, winning their heat to secure a spot in the six-team final that will cap the meet Saturday afternoon.

Etmund, a Norris graduate, led off in 48.9 seconds, followed by 50.2 and 50.7 legs from Bosley and Martinez. Mitchell, the defending NAIA champion in the 60-meter hurdles, anchored in 47.6.

After the first four events in the two-day, seven-event heptathlon, Doane’s Rob Keeney and Brad Higgins are fifth and sixth with 2,715 and 2,606 points respectively.

The heptathlon winds up on Friday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and the 1,000-meter run.

Also on Thursday, Doane freshman Jillian Ourada finished 12th in the pentathlon with 3,147 points.

Tigers not advancing out of the preliminary round were Viviana Arreola in the 5,000-meter run, the men’s 4x800 relay team (Jamil Chehade, Omar Fernandez, Jory Pflasterer and Justin Cox) and the men’s distance medley relay team (Sufian Kalil, Alex Reynolds, Scott Ohlson and Paul Garcia).

National meet action resumes Friday with the resumption of the heptathlon at 10 a.m. EST. Other events, in what will be a very busy day for Doane athletes, begin at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Stay logged on to www.cretenews.net during the day Friday and Saturday for live updates of the meet on our home page Twitter window and for daily wrap-ups and late-breaking news on the website.