WINNIPEG – The hometown Manitoba Bisons lead in the men's points totals after day one of U SPORTS Track and Field Nationals at the James Daly Fieldhouse.

Manitoba has 18 points following a first and second place finish in the 60 metre dash, the only point scoring event on day one of the three day event. No female Bisons athletes competed on day one.

In front of a raucous and passionate local crowd, Bisons 60 metre sprinters Jordan Soufi and Tyrell Davis accomplished something never done in school history, not once, but twice.

Soufi's gold medal result of 6.69 seconds marked the first time in school history that a Bison men's athlete has finished first at nationals. Soufi and Davis – who finished second with a time of 6.73 seconds – also became the first Bisons to go 1-2 at nationals in the discipline

"They've been through a lot. I'm super happy that they were able to put it together on the day in front of their home crowd and families," said assistant coach Gee-ef Nkwonta, who oversees both athlete's programming.

"It's awesome for the program. More people see that speed is here. We had two athletes in the final and three in the field. Next year I'm hoping it's that again, and an even higher number. It's super awesome to see that the program has gotten to that point. We'll just take it a day at a time and see what we can do. I'm loving the direction we're heading with the guys and girls."

Soufi owns the school record in the 60, at 6.67 seconds, and his gold medal result was the third time he's ran sub 6.70 in the last two weeks. He showcased his power, exploding in the final ten metres to edge Davis, who was right beside him in the lanes and had a spectacular start to take the lead.

"Me and Jordan became training partners last year when I switched into his group in early September. We've been working with each other with the goal of going 1-2, and achieving that feels amazing," added Davis.

"A couple of weeks ago I didn't know if I was going to be able to race because of a strained hamstring. Overcoming that and a back injury to get the silver medal is awesome."

Elsewhere, the nation's points leader in the heptathlon, Max Speiser, leads the field entering day two action tomorrow, with 2958.

He hit personal bests in all four day one events, the 60 metre dash (7.29s), long jump (6.70m), shotput (12.69m) and high jump (1.98m). The 60m hurdles, 1000m and pole vault round out the hep tomorrow. Speiser's bread and butter is the pole vault, where he is also ranked in the top 12 in the nation individually.



The highlight on day one for Speiser was the high jump, where he finished first. His leap of 1.98m was well above anyone else, with the closest competition reaching 1.86

Catch the Bisons men's and women's teams competing tomorrow beginning at 1 pm. Tickets and more at this link.