Dan Hunter, d3photography.com

Ebun Opata currently holds the ninth furthest distance in Division III all-time in the triple jump. (d3photography)

The No. 1 women’s and No. 21 men’s WashU track and field team notched seven top-three finishes against Division I and Division II competition at the 2025 Missouri Bob Teel Invitational on Jan. 25.

The meet — hosted by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri — consisted mainly of D-I and D-II schools, such as D-I Mizzou, University of Memphis, and Eastern Illinois University, and D-II schools like Missouri Southern State University.

Competing against high-caliber programs pushed the squad to put up nationally impressive performances, according to junior George Bourdier.

“It was pretty mind-blowing just to see some of the caliber they’ve got of athletes,” he said. “The other guys provided a high level of competition for us that we were able to rise to the occasion. We had some really big performances that I think were pushed out of us by the level of competition we experienced there.”

No. 1 WashU women’s team

Senior Ebun Opata led the Bears, winning the high triple jump with a 12.54-meter jump. Her performance the ninth-furthest jump in Division III history. Opata also found success in the long jump, jumping 5.62 meters for second place — the 10th-furthest mark in D-III this season.

In the pole vault, senior Yasmin Ruff placed first with a jump of 3.95 meters, her best so far this season and the second-highest mark in D-III. In the field events, junior Jenae Bothe also found the podium in the shot-put, finishing third with a 14.25-meter throw. 

On the track, WashU’s depth was on full display. Junior Jasmine Wright placed fifth in the 60-meter run, with less than a hundredth of a second separating the Top 4 finishers. In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Lauren Gay placed eighth with a time of 9.16 seconds, the ninth-fastest time so far this season nationally.

The Bears also found success in the distance events. Senior Izzy Gorton and sophomore Caroline Echols placed third and fifth respectively in the 800-meter run. Gorton’s time of 2:15.03 is currently the fifth-fastest in D-III, and Echols’ 2:16.18 sits at eighth on the list. 

For Gorton, the result was particularly special since she had only run for two days after taking two weeks off before the meet.

“I was surprised that it went the way it did,” she said about the race. “But I feel like when you take time off, it’s more of a mental game … It’s hard to trust yourself to be able to give the same as you could before, so I was really excited to compete.”

In the mile, junior Jillian Heth finished fifth with a time of 4:57.72, and senior Virginia Pridgen tied for seventh with a time of 4:58.15. Both times are in the Top 5 nationally.

In the last 4×400-meter relay — consisting of first-year Hailey Weir, junior Kylie Spytek, sophomore Cate Christopher, and Gorton — the team finished fifth with the fastest time in D-III so far this season: 3:50.15.

Gorton attributed the relay’s success to the team’s depth.

“We’re just so deep,” she said. “We have so many good 400 runners. Our B-Team is great, our C-Team is great. And we always run like a bunch. We just had a really great fall [season] this year … so now it’s time to show that off.”

No. 21 WashU men’s team

Led by senior Tommaso Maiocco, the Bears swept the Top 3 spots in the men’s pole vault. Maiocco’s 5.05-meter vault shattered his personal best set at last year’s NCAA Championships. Sophomore Peter Lichtenberger and Bourdier finished in second and third respectively. Lichtenberger’s 4.90-meter jump was just 0.05 meters off of his personal best set last January. First-year Zachary Duckworth rounded out the Bears’ efforts in the pole vault with a 4.15-meter jump. Maiocco’s efforts place him at the second-highest mark in D-III, behind Centre College’s Logan Issacs. Lichtenberger’s mark is seventh in the nation currently.

Bourdier credited the pole vault squad’s success to their size and their training throughout the season.

“It’s really nice when we go to a meet and there’s 10 of us in total,” Bourdier said. “That’s pretty big for a vault squad, and so when you go to those meets, especially meets that are a little more high stress … you’ve got a level of comfort and confidence that I think most athletes from a smaller group won’t be able to find.”

For Bourdier, his 4.60-meter jump was not his only Top 5 finish, as he also finished fourth in the 200-meter run with a personal-best time of 22.23 seconds.

Bourdier credits his success in the 200-meter run to Stephen Fleagle, the jumps coach who also helps him train for track events and the pole vault — a unique combination of events, especially at the collegiate level.

“What I like about the team is, they’re willing to try out new things and see what works, and to try and put people in places where they could possibly succeed,” Bourdier said. “They don’t keep you in a box or confined to what you’ve been recruited for.”

In the 60-meter hurdles, first-year Liam Elliot placed sixth with a personal-best time of 8.94 seconds. In the distance events, another first-year had a strong showing: William Ruszkowski placed sixth in the 3,000-meter run. Junior Oliver Witt finished six seconds ahead of him, placing fifth. Ruszkowki and Witt’s times were both personal bests.

Two runners placed in the Top 10 in the 400-meter dash, with junior Carson Page and first-year Benjamin Kruger placing ninth and 10th respectively, with just 0.18 seconds separating the two. Page’s time of 51.38 seconds was a personal best, beating his previous best time of 51.51 seconds set last February. 

In the final event of the night — the 4×400-meter relay — WashU’s A-Team consisting of sophomore William Frohling, junior Brandon Brazil, senior Elvin Binagi, and Kruger placed fourth just 0.24 seconds behind a team from Missouri Southern. In the 800-meter run, Frohling placed ninth with a time of 1:56.95. WashU’s mark in the 4×400 relay is currently the eighth-fastest in Division III.

WashU has four more meets before the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships and the NCAA Championships in March. Bourdier hopes to use these smaller meets to prepare for the championship meets and push himself in the pole vault and sprint events.

“My coach always says, ‘If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. ‘You’ve got to push yourself in ways you’ve never done before and kind of [be] uncomfortable with what you’re doing until those things become comfortable,” Bourdier said.