After hosting the second annual Zach Kindler Wildcat Open on Saturday at Liston Stadium, the BU track & field team is now preparing for the Heart of America Athletic Conference championships May 6-7 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The men’s team will be going for a sixth straight outdoor conference title, and the women are going for their fifth straight.

“I am very confident that my teammates will have great performances,” junior Alex Garbarino-Herman said.

On Saturday at the Baker meet, Garbarino-Herman was able to qualify for the 2016 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field national championship in both the women’s 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles by hitting the B standard mark in both. Her qualifying times were good enough for her to take home first place in both events.

“It was an incredible feeling to qualify in both hurdle events,” Garbarino-Herman said.

Brenda McCollum continued her dominance this year in the 5,000-meter race walk as she also took home a first-place finish.

Rosie Hollis also captured first place in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.

On the men’s side, several Wildcats finished at the top of their respective events. Josh Peck won the men’s discus throw and Jamie Steury won the men’s 5,000-meter race.

In the men’s 3,000-meter race, Baker swept the top three spots with Joe Linder in first, Andrew Dare in second and Corey Matteson in third.

“The key to success has always been hard work,” Linder said. “We have coaches who push us to not get out worked by other teams and at practice we run further, we jump higher, and throw harder.”

The only relay team to finish in first place was the men’s 4x100m, which won over four other teams.

This meet is in remembrance of the late coach Zach Kindler, who died from severe cardiac arrest in August of 2014.

“It was very important to me and the others that are a part of his legacy to compete well in his honor,” Garbarino-Herman said. “He held a special place in my heart and always pushed me to do better in all aspects of my life.”