Track & Field Posts Strong Outing On Day One of Carolina Challenge

Friday, January 21

Columbia, S.C.

All Day

University of North Florida

Carolina Challenge

Photo by: David Hicks

Track & Field Posts Strong Outing On Day One of Carolina Challenge

1/21/2022 8:00:00 PM | Men's Track, Women's Track

Live Results

Meet: Carolina Challenge (Day 1)
Location: Columbia, S.C.
Date: Friday, Jan. 21, 2022

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The North Florida track and field teams had strong performances in its season opener at the Carolina Challenge on Friday afternoon. It was the first day of indoor competition that the Ospreys have participated in since the 2020 season.

ON THE TRACK

Men's Races

Aiden Arnold started the day off sitting in fourth place in the men's 1-mile race with a time of 4:15.01.
Ryan Thomas competed well in the men's 400m dash with a time of 53.08.
Jordan Travieso posts a top-20 finish in the men's 800m with a time of 2:00.55.
Seth Martinez finished third in the men's 3k heat with a time of 8:34.08.
Thomas Weiler also ran a top-five time in the men's 3k heat at 8:36.33.

Women's Races

Mia McLain was the top performer for the Ospreys in women's 1-mile race with a time of 5:10.30.
Celine D'Anna finished first in her heat and 22nd overall in the women's 400m dash with a time of 1:03.53.
McLain clocked in a time of 10:23.26 to finish third after the first day of heats in the women's 3k.
Leah Pelham and Billie Castillo followed right behind McLain in the women's 3k heats with times of 10:29.87 and 10:30.63 respectively.

PIGG'S POINTS

"It's been a long time coming. The teams haven't raced indoor track for two years due to the pandemic and the way we chose to approach things. We have freshmen and sophomores both that raced in their first indoor track meet and a 200m track is obviously a lot different than running outdoors. It was an exciting time for the team to line up and race. The kids have worked hard to get to this point and we had a good day.

One of our better performances was from freshman Aiden Arnold ran 4:15 in the mile, which is faster than he ran in high school by a couple seconds and I thought he did a really good job. In the 3k for the men, both Seth [Martinez] and Thomas [Weiler] both ran really well with times of 8:30 and 8:32. That's a really good way to kick off the indoor season, so we we're happy to see that.

On the women's side, Mia McLain and Billie Castillo both ran really well in the mile and in the 3k with personal-best times in both events. Leah Pelham did a great job, running 40 seconds faster than she did in high school, with a personal-best time in her heat. We're really looking forward to the meet tomorrow and this was a great way to start off the season." - head coach Jeff Pigg

NEXT UP

The UNF track and field teams return to Columbia tomorrow for the second day of the Carolina Challenge. The Ospreys will compete in the high jump, 800m, 3k, 5k, 1-mile, and distance relays on Saturday afternoon.