Starting the season with a bang.

That is what Bland Middle School track athletes coached by Samantha Eads and Jacob Walton decided to do Monday afternoon during a season-opening quad track meet at Linn High School.

It did not take long for a school record to fall in Osage County.

Placing second in the boys 4x800-meter relay with a time of 10:44.00, the Bear foursome of Malachi Fredendall, Miles Frey, David Skaggs and Kehlen Streumph broke the previous school record of 12:21.06 from 2011 by the 4x800m relay team of Josh Keene, Ivan Elrod, Kyle Chaplin and Kever Donze.

That second-place finish helped Bland’s Bears place second as a team with 100 points behind Russellville (157.50).

Three Bears placed in the top three of the boys high jump led by Brice Robertson’s winning jump of 1.57 meters.

Colton Hazelwood and Streumph also tied for third in the event clearing 1.32m.

Brayden Barzee won the discus with a first-place throw of 31.92m while Bear teammate Weston Doss placed second with a mark of 25.16m.

Placing third in the boys 4x200m relay was the Bear quartet of Connor LeRoux, Lathan Miller, Karsin Siefert and Barzee in a time of 2:11.91.

Robertson (4th, 6:11.74) and Frey (7th, 6:29.49) scored team points for the Bears in the boys 1600-meter run.

Bland’s Lady Bears scored 62 points to place fourth as a team behind Trinity Lutheran (91), Russellville (75) and New Bloomfield (73).

Bland’s Lady Bear quartet of Nolie Finnegan, Ellie Gray, Natalie Lansford and Piper Marsee won the girls 4x200m relay in a time of 2:07.49.

Finnegan also won the 800m run while placing second in the 1600m run.

Lansford added a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash and a second-place leap in the girls high jump to her leg of the girls 4x200m relay.

BMS Track will return to action on Tuesday, March 28 at Fatima starting at 2:30 p.m.