GENEVA, Ohio --- Moravian College senior John Spirk and junior Greg Jaindl competed on the opening day of the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships being hosted by the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and the University of Mount Union at the SPIRE Institute on Thursday.

Spirk, who was making his first-ever appearance at the NCAA Championships, was the first Greyhound to compete, running in the preliminaries of the 400-meter hurdles. Spirk, who entered as the 12th seed, ran a time of 54.41 seconds to finish fifth in his heat and 16th of the 20 competitors. The top finisher in each of the three preliminary heats and the next six fastest times advanced to the finals on Saturday.

Jaindl, who was running at the NCAA meet for the second straight spring, was in the first heat of the 3,000-meter steeplechase where he finished sixth in the heat with a time of 9:17.19, the fourth fastest time of his career and in school history. Jaindl's time was the 13th best in the preliminaries, good enough to get him into the national championship final on Saturday, May 25 at 11:45 a.m. with a chance to be an All-American for the first time in his career.

The Greyhounds have one female competitor on Friday while Jaindl is the only Hound guaranteed to run on Saturday at this point.