YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - UIC opened up the 2021 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Youngstown State on Friday. A handful of Flames participated on the first day of competition with one scoring points for UIC and three more securing a spot in event finals later in the weekend.  

"Tonight started us off well," said head coach Ashley Lucas. "Teresa & Taylor made the women's 1500 final and Dathan the men's final. Then Carlos had a hard fought 5th place in the 10k (top 5 all broke the facility record) and Mark just missed scoring but ran a personal best and moved up on our Top 10 list. Good momentum going into tomorrow."

The women's squad were first to hit the field as they competed in the 1500m prelims on Friday. Teresa Mejia placed fifth (4:47.55), while Taylor Frommer finished in 11th (4:48.06). Both will move on to the women's 1500m finals. 

On the men's side, Dathan Maton finished in fourth place in the 1500m prelims with a time of 4:08.46 to move on to the finals.  

Junior Carlos Cabrera took home fifth (30:51.99) in the men's 10k to add the first four points to the board. Cabrera also made the UIC top-10 performance and is now ranked fourth in school history. 

The meet will continue on Saturday at 9 a.m. (ET) with the decathlon.