Montreat Track and Field Welcomes Teams to Montreat Open

By Dylan Garcia

At Pulliam Stadium in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the Montreat Women's Track and Field team staged the Montreat College Open on Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20. The Cavaliers broke one school record and met several personal bests with 40 entries spread across 16 events. On the Men’s side across 18 events, the 48 entrants from the Cavaliers produced two national standards, one school record, and 11 top-5 results.

The Women's Cavaliers racked up five top-10 results in their six events. With a leap of 5.38 meters, Jessica Gakeri achieved the best rank of any Montreat athlete by taking third in the long jump. Adrianna Gullette, who scored a personal record of 5.12 meters, came in ninth place out of 32 competitors.

After that, the Cavs had three more top-10 finishes in the race. Dylan Garcia outran 53 competitors to finish fourth in the 1500-meter event in 4:48.50. In the meanwhile, Carlyn Bobo placed fourth in her 10-kilometer debut, with a time of 38:42.66 among the field of seven competitors. In the 5000m, Hannah Oliver contributed a 10th-place effort and finished in 19:18.33 to complete her score.

The first day of competition saw two victories for Montreat Men, led by Dylan Branch's first-ever 3000m steeplechase. The native of Avon Park, Florida defeated a field of 13 runners with an NAIA "B" standard time of 9:27.07.

The other victory for the Cavaliers came on Friday from Dustin Blevins in the long jump. Blevins won the competition with a leap of 7.11 meters, besting thirty other jumpers. Gregory Curry II's fifth-place 6.61-meter performance allowed him to move up to within the top five, joining Blevins.

Montreat's Women's 4x800-meter relay teams were in the top five to begin the competition on Saturday. The "A" team finished third (9:46.59) while the "B" team placed fourth (10:13.09). The "A" team, consisting of Emily Standifer, Yessenia Castellanos, Barnes, and Kaylene Manternach, placed second out of six squads, while both 4x400m relay teams achieved top-five finishes. The school record for the event was surpassed by more than three seconds with the relay's timing of 4:04.10. The Montreat "B" squad finished the 4x400m relay in fourth place.

Wyatt Wilson broke the school record in the 5000-meter race walk and met the "B" mark, he raised the bar high on Saturday morning. Wilson, a Shelby, North Carolina native, placed fifth out of 12 finishers. Wilson's timing of 25:24.19 beat his school record by 11.63 seconds and is nearly ninety seconds ahead of the required time for the national level.