GREENSBORO, N.C. --- The 2021 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships kicked off on Thursday afternoon withe mixed bag of field, track, and multi-discipline events on the docket. Eight of the ODAC's contingent of 16 athletes were in action in either finals or preliminary competition.

RELATED: NCAA Championship Results and Information.

Lynchburg's Frank Csorba picked up three team points for the Hornets as he placed sixth overall in the 10,000 meter run. He chimed in at 30:27.92 to claim All-American honors. Jared Pangallozzi from Johns Hopkins won the race at 29:55.42. Csorba, the ODAC record holder in the 10K at 29:37.97, will race again on Saturday at 3:25 PM ET in the 5,000-meter run. He owns that ODAC record as well at 14:22.69.

Bridgewater's Adalia Coleman and Kacee Hooker competed in the 200-meter dash preliminaries. Hooker, slotted 17th entering the event, matched that position in Greensboro with a time of 25.74 seconds. Coleman, who posted an ODAC championships record time of 24.42 a few weeks prior, placed second in her heat and posted the fifth-best prelims time at 24.54 seconds to qualify for the finals. Favor Ezewuzie from Wheaton (Ill.) is perched at the top of the eight-woman final at 23.94 seconds. Coleman will compete in the 200m finals on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. ET as well as the 100-meter dash preliminaries on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Eastern Mennonite's Alijah Johnson capped a strong junior season that saw him set the ODAC championships record (21.45) in the 200-meter dash with at 14th place finish at nationals. He crossed the line at 21.88 seconds. JP Vaught from Centre enters the finals with the best time at 21.11 seconds.

Lynchburg's Frank Llaneza topped the list of qualifying runners in the men's 1,500-meter run. He won his heat at 3:51.04, which is only 1.40 seconds off the long standing ODAC record set by former Hornet Ken Brady in 1978. Llaneza, who entered the event seeded 14th, competes in the finals of the 1,500m run at 12:35 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Roanoke's Hannah Koepfinger improved up on her #19 seed position entering the 400-meter hurdles competition. She placed 14th overall in the preliminaries at 1:04.15, leaving her a few places shy of qualifying for the finals. Simone Wilson from Concordia-Chicago posted the top prelims time at 1:01.02.

Virginia Wesleyan's Geni Roberts took his turn in the men's long jump. He came up two spots shy of the final three rounds of jumps, placing 11th overall at 6.82 meters (22-4.50). Egypt Page from Brockport State won the event at 7.42 meters (24-4.25). Roberts will compete again in Greensboro on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET in the triple jump.

Washington and Lee's Joe O'Connor cleared 4.60 meters (15-1.00) on his first attempt in the pole vault, tying him for ninth overall with Keith Holland from Stockton and Zach Stump from Salisbury. The trio each made three attempts at 4.75 meters (15-7.00), but came up short. Noah Zastrow from UW-Stout won the event at 5.10 meters (16-8.75).

The NCAA Championships continue on Friday and Saturday at Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C.