Competition got into full swing at the 2010 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Loyola University and the University of Illinois-Chicago at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL, on Saturday, and junior Lesley Hanna (Exuma, Bahamas/Coakley) paced the Titans with a pair of stellar performances.

The Titans finished the first full day of competition tied for fifth in the team standings, having tallied 16 points. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will enter the final day on Sunday as the league leader with 69 points.

Hanna began his day by equaling his personal best performance in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.99 meters/6' 6.25”, good for second place and eight team points. Then, in his 200 meter dash prelim, Hanna blazed his way to a time of 21.52 seconds, coming in under Wally Gruber's 62-year-old UDM record of 21.60. There will be more for Hanna on Sunday, as he also qualified for the finals with the second-fastest time in qualifying of 47.90 seconds.

“A lot of things went right for us today,” said UDM head coach Guy Murray. “It's very good to see the old (Lesley Hanna) back; he really put together a great day. Overall it was a good day for us, now we just need to keep it up and continue to perform well on Sunday.”

Freshman Taylor Hennrick (Traverse City, MI/St. Francis), who stood in fourth place in the decathlon entering Saturday, surpassed his own UDM record in the 10-discipline event with a score of 5,054 points, good for a fourth-place finish.

In the long jump, freshman Ja'Quan Patterson (Ypsilanti, MI/Ypsilanti) recorded a personal best on his first attempt of the day, traveling 6.91 meters/22' 8”. He was unable to improve on that mark, but it still held up to give him a fourth-place finish.

Joining Hanna in the finals of their respective events on Sunday will be nine other Titans. Sophomore Vushaun Landrum (Windsor, ON/Sandwich Secondary) will be joining Hanna in the 200 meter dash final after nabbing the final spot with a time of 21.99 seconds. Landrum will also be part of a trio of Titans in the 100 meter dash final on Sunday. Junior Earnest Cleary (Detroit, MI/Ferndale) had the fastest qualifying time of 10.71 seconds, Landrum's 10.79 was the second best, and senior Deonte Osayande (Detroit, MI/Winans Academy) had the No. 6 time in the prelims, a PR of 10.89 seconds.

Sophomore Joe LaRocca (Eastpointe, MI/De LaSalle Collegiate) will provide Hanna company in the 400 meter dash final, having earned the last spot into Sunday's running with a time 49.80 seconds. Fellow sophomore Bob Radlich (Cheektowaga, NY/Cleveland Hills) crossed the finish line of the 800 meter run in 1:54.56 to advance with the No. 8 time of the prelims.

UDM will be sending multiple runners into each of the hurdle finals Sunday. In the 110 meter hurdles, Hennrick and freshman Vincent Lefler (Midland, MI/Midland) punched their tickets to Sunday. Lefler will then be joined by fellow rookies Anthony Donald (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) and Derek Baker (Carleton, MI/Airport) in the 400 meter hurdles final.

Sunday at Benedictine will also see Patterson looking to earn more team points in the triple jump, senior Alex Gould (Comstock Park, MI/Comstock Park) and junior Kevin Smalley (Gladwin, MI/Gladwin) lead a pack of five Titans in 1,500 meter run, and junior Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey) front a seven-Titan contingent in the 5,000 meter run.

Detroit will look to climb from their current spot as the 2010 outdoor championships conclude Sunday. Action gets underway at 11:00 a.m. beginning with men's shot put, and action on the track heats up at noon with 4x100 meter relays.