KENOSHA, Wis. (Sabreathletics.com) - The Marian University track and field team opened the indoor season at the Private College Invitational hosted by Carthage College, today, Jan. 17, for their first action of the season. The Sabres featured two first-year runners in Kelly Kulinski and Kristina Samann while the University of Chicago won the tournament for both the men and women.

Kulinski showed off her speed in the 55-meter dash preliminary round, running a time of 7.85 seconds to finishing ninth and just outside the top-eight that advanced to the finals. Cardinal Stritch runner Payton Tepp was the preliminary round winner and then backed up her performance in the finals to take first place.

Kulinski then took part in the 200-meter dash and finished with a time of 28.80 seconds to finish 16th out of 43 runners. UW- Parkside's Jetaia Lewis finished first with a time of 26.61 seconds.

Samann represented the Sabres in the 800-meter dash, finishing with a time of 3:10.11 to take 25th overall. UW-Parkside's Moriah Palmer finished in first with a time of 2:16.94.

"It was a great opener with a lot of positives and not a whole lot of things to fix," said Head Coach Dan Allen. "With our lack of experience with our team, we have a much higher ceiling than most, but I'm excited to see what the rest of the indoor season will bring."

After two weeks of rest, the Sabres head to River Falls for the Falcon Winter Classic on Jan. 31.