By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Friday was a crucial day for Tennessee Tech at the 2018 OVC Outdoor Track & Field Championship.

The Golden Eagles needed to finish business from the meet's opening day on Thursday, do well in their Friday finals and position themselves well enough in the prelims to be able to score points in various track finals on Saturday.

Overall, Tech took advantage of those opportunities and currently sits in fifth in the team race with 33 points. However, just six points separate the Golden Eagles and leader SIUE with one day of competition to go.

Today, Khemani Roberts claimed two medals and 14 points for Tech with her podium finishes in the heptathlon and high jump. The junior finished off the heptathlon with the long jump, javelin and 800m run, finishing in fourth or better in all three events. She ended the event in second place with a total of 5,214 points.

Roberts placed third in the high jump later on Friday with a mark of 1.73m/5'8".

Eshe Robinson claimed ninth place in the heptathlon with a personal record of 4,115 points.

Na'Scottisha Drummond also scored three points with her sixth-place finish in the high jump, tying her season-best mark at 1.65m/5'5".

After today's prelims performances, Tech will make eight appearances in five different track finals on Saturday.

D'Airrien Jackson and Na'Asha Robinson each advanced to two events' finals. Jackson finished first in both the 400m dash and 400m hurdles, breaking her own school record with a time of 59.37 in the hurdles.

Robinson will make it a 1-2 punch for Tech in the 400m dash, finishing second overall in the prelims to move on to Saturday. She will also be the top seed in the 200m dash with a qualifying time of 23.51.

Lisa Wickham and Ceirra Tate will each race in the 100m dash final as the 2- and 3-seeds after a pair of personal records (11.60 and 11.82 respectively) in the prelims. Tate will also move on in the 200m dash with a new personal record of 24.27.

Micayla Rennick was the final Golden Eagle to advance to Saturday's finals, finishing fifth in the 800m prelims with a time of 2:12.61.