WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Anderson's track and field teams opened indoor season on Saturday with athletes competing at three different events: the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University, the Early Bird Invite at the TRACK by new balance and the Visit Winston-Salem College Kick-off at JDL Fast Track. Across the three meets, there were two program records, two national qualifying times and 22 Top-10 performances.
Fresh off of cross country postseason, five distance-running Trojans traveled to Boston for opening weekend. Competing at Boston University, sophomore Kennedy Roush (Greenville, S.C.) posted a national-qualifying time of 17:06 in the women's 5K to break the standing Anderson program record by more than 30 seconds. In the men's 5K, Spain Vaughan (Greer, S.C.) also boasted a national-qualifying mark, running a 14:22. Elliot Dotson (Greenville, S.C.) followed with a time of 14:38.
Representing the Black and Gold at the TRACK by new balance, Lucy Schmitt (Greenville, S.C.) and William Cronin (Lexington, S.C.) recorded times of 17:47 and 14:48 in their respective 5K races, finishing 6th and 4th respectively.
In Winston-Salem for the first of three JDL Fast Track meets on this season's schedule, Anderson competed against a full slate of regional competition. Senior Simeon Respress (Cornella, Ga.) registered a 6.93m-mark in the men's long jump event, breaking his own program record to finish second in a field of 40 athletes.
In pole vault, sophomore Jorja Fox (Easley, S.C.) clinched AU's first first-place finish of the season with a mark of 3.05m. Sophomore Rylie Jenkins (Lorange, La.) placed third in the event, while freshman Avery Marshall (York, S.C.) placed fifth. On the men's side, junior Tyler Farris (Dacula, Ga.) led the Trojans with a fourth-place 4.40m-mark.
Anderson's 4x400m relay team comprised of seniors Ian Macurda (Charlotte, S.C.) and Ben Molitor (Pelzer, S.C.) and freshmen Brayden Anderson (Yakima, Wash.) and William Wright (Sumter, S.C.) notched a third-place finish with a time of 3:32.
Other notable performances include senior Lacey Boozer's (Simpsonville, S.C.) fourth-place finish of 58.78 in the women's 400m and sophomore Sean McAdams' (Greenville, S.C.) fifth-place finish of 15:10 in the men's 5K.
The Trojans are back on the track after the new year, kicking off 2025 at the Orange and Purple Classic in Clemson on Jan. 24-25.
