Three athletes affiliated with the Grand Valley State University track and field program participated at the 2014 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last weekend in Sacramento, Calif.

Junior Darien Thornton joined a pair of GVSU alumni, Kristen Hixson and Sam Lockhart, to compete against the world-class competition in the event. Thornton impressed in the hammer throw, tossing throws of 65.46 meters, 64.82 meters and 66.24 meters to finish in 13th place. The three-throw series was the best of his career.

Despite fouling on her first two throws, Lockhart managed a 14th-place finish in women’s discus with a throw of 51.34 meters, while Hixson, who notched the eighth-best women’s outdoor pole vault mark in the world earlier this year at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Allendale, was unable to clear a height of 4.30 meters.