BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Tiger men's and women's track & field teams had a successful start to the 2022-23 indoor season, setting several new personal records at the BSC Panther Indoor Icebreaker, hosted by Birmingham-Southern College on Friday.

Joy Areola (Tomball, Texas / Rosehill Christian) broke her personal best in both the long jump and the triple jump. She reached 5.21 meters and finished eighth overall in the long jump, then came back this afternoon and hit 11.08 meters in the triple jump to earn a 14th-place finish. Areola was the top NCAA III finisher in both events.

The running events were highlighted by Ethan Gilmore (Houston, Texas / Lamar) finishing 10th in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.42. Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel) and Grant Bishop (Geronimo, Texas / Navarro) also finished in the top 25 in the event, with Johnson turning in a time of 22.75 and Bishop crossing the line in 22.99. Gilmore and Johnson competed in the indoor 200 for the first time, while Bishop set a new personal record with his time on Saturday.

Earlier in the afternoon, Johnson was 11th in the prelims of the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.68 that left him just 0.19 seconds from qualifying for the finals. Jalen Leonce (Allen, Texas / Jesuit College Prep) was 16th in the hurdles event with a new personal-best time of 9.05. Leonce also ran his first indoor 800-meter race, finishing with a time of 2:18.83 on Saturday.

Avery Puig (Laredo, Texas / J.B. Alexander) and Hayley Huck (Prosper, Texas / Prosper) were in the women's 60 hurdles for the Tigers. Huck competed in the indoor event for the first time in her career, while Puig finished under 10 seconds for the third time in her career.

In the 60 meter dash prelims, Puig missed her PR by just 0.02 seconds, leading the way for Trinity with a time of 8.23 seconds. Danya Selber (Edinburg, Texas / Robert Vela) set a new PR with her time of 8.30 seconds in the 60. She joined Huck as the only two Tiger women in the 200, and both ladies were in the indoor event for the first time in their careers. Selber finished in 27.51 to edge Huck's time of 27.75 seconds in the event.

The 400 meter dash was also a success for the Tigers, led by a 14th-place finish by Nicolas Ladreyt (Santa Monica, Calif. / Harvard-Westlake) in 50.83 seconds. Josue Parra (Niles, Ill. / Maine East) finished less than a second later in 51.69 seconds and both runners competed in the event for the first time in their collegiate careers indoor. Taylor Kotfas (Blanco, Texas / Blanco) raced to her best time since 2020 in the 400, finishing in 1:01.97 to earn 23rd place. CC Gray (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame Prep) set a new personal record with her time of 1:02.37 that ranked her 25th in the event.

The final event of the meet was the 4x400 meter relay. The men finished eighth in a time of 3:24.19, which is the best time for a Trinity team since February of 2020. The Tiger women were 13th with a time of 4:15.88 that was also the team's best since the 2019-20 indoor season, and nearly seven seconds faster than last year's time.

Up Next
Trinity will resume the indoor season after the holiday break, competing at the FasTrak Opener on Saturday, January 21, in Houston, Texas.