The Washington University men’s and women’s track team started the outdoor season on the right foot, winning the Washington University Mini Twilight Meet on Friday night as the team edged out six competing teams. Coming off a successful indoor season that featured University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship finishes for both the men and the women, who earned their seventh-consecutive UAA title, the Bears were ready to get things started.

“We are excited about how our indoor season went, but we still have a lot more to accomplish in the outdoor season,” said junior long distance runner Eliza Davis.

The field events were a strong area for the Bears, who won four All-American awards during the indoor NCAA meet over spring break. Friday’s meet started off just where the indoor season ended, as the Bears won or placed in almost every event. Junior high jumper Cameron Williams, who placed fourth in the high jump at the NCAA indoors, won the men’s high jump with a leap of 1.95m. Sophomore Morgen Leonard-Fleckman and freshman Evan Killips won the women’s (11-0) and men’s (13-0) pole vault, respectively. Junior thrower and All-American Delaina Martin placed second in the discus (36.42m) and first in the hammer throw (39.6m) and shot put (12.26m) on Friday.

The Bears continued their success in the running events as well, winning four events. Davis placed first in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 18:51.98.

“Personally, I want to keep improving my time and hopefully run the 10K for the first time,” said Davis. “But as a team, we want to keep our UAA streak alive and get as many people to nationals and hopefully do well there as a team.”

The women’s track and field team has also won the outdoor UAA championship six straight years. Also adding points for the women, sophomore Abbey Hartmann won the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:35.88, defeating her closest competitor by almost a full minute.

The University took the top four spots in the men’s 1,500-meter run. Senior Greg Reindl won with a time of 4:02.49, junior Joe Guinness finished second at 4:11.72, sophomores Brian Robertson and Brandon Brown took third (4:14.07) and fourth (4:14.39) respectively. Senior David Skiba won the men’s 400 hurdles in 55.63. Freshman Tanner Coghill finished second with a time of 57.49. The men’s team is looking to defend their outdoor UAA Championship title this year as well. Having won 10 titles in its history, the program has never placed below fourth in the UAA in its 18 years.

The Bears will look to continue their outdoor success with a four-meet home stand at Francis Field. They compete next at the Washington University Invitational this Friday and Saturday.

“Last weekend’s meet went really well, but a lot of people weren’t running their main events,” said Davis. “We sort of used it as a tune-up for the bigger meets like this weekend.”

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