SAN ANTONIO – The Trinity University men's and women's track & field teams will open up the 2023-24 Indoor season at the Birmingham-Southern College Panther Indoor Icebreaker on Friday.

This is the second straight season that the Tigers will open up their schedule at this meet, and it will be the only event for Trinity during the Fall 2023 semester. Trinity student-athletes will have at least two more indoor track & field opoortunities to qualify for the NCAA III Indoor Championships, held March 8-9 at Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The schedule begins at 8:30 a.m. with the prelims for the 60-meter dash. The Tigers will line up senior Danya Selber (Edinburg, Texas / Robert Vela) on the women's side, while fellow senior Grant Bishop (Geronimo, Texas / Navarro) will race for the men in the event. The 60-meter hurdles prelims will follow and Selber will be back on the track for that event as well. Joining her teammate on the women's side will be another senior Hayley Huck (Prosper, Texas / Prosper). The men's 60m hurdles will feature senior Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel) and sophomore Kris Duggan (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson).

The field events will get rolling at 9:00 a.m. with both the shot put and long jump. Junior Kate Ballengee (Albuquerque, N.M. / Bosque School) will represent the Tiger women in the shot put, while Joy Areola (Tomball, Texas / Rosehill Christian) will compete in the long jump. On the men's side, Trinity junior Heath Schake (Wimberley, Texas / Wimberley) and first-year Jordan Ayala (San Juan, Texas / Edinburg) will throw the shot put, with sophomore Bocar Diagana (Edina, Minn. / Edina) competing in the high jump.

Trinity will not have anyone competing in the 3,000-meter run that begins at 10:00 a.m., but there will be five Tigers in the men's and women's pole vault event that starts at the same time. Junior Maddie Wietstruck (Houston, Texas / Northland Christian), sophomore Kaelin Leishman (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton North), and first-year Victoria Baker (San Antonio, Texas / Alamo Heights) will represent the Tiger women. Trinity sophomores Seth Jacobs (Santa Fe, Texas / Santa Fe) and Adrian Suarez (Carrollton, Texas / Greenhill) will compete in the men's event to follow the women.

The 60m dash and 60m hurdles events will come back for the semifinals at 11:00 a.m. for those that qualify, then the finals of both events are scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start. That time slot will also be occupied by both the triple jump and the weight throw. Areola and Wietstruck will both compete in the triple jump for the women, followed by Diagana and Johnson in the men's event. The weight throw competition will be the same bunch as the shot put for the Tigers, as Ballengee will throw for the women and both Schake and Ayala return for the men.

The high jump is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be the final field event of the day. Duggan will be Trinity's lone representative in the event, though his day won't finish there as he heads for the track later in the afternoon.

With the field events complete, all attention moves to the track. The Tigers don't have anyone entered in the mile run at 2:00 p.m. or the 1,000-meter race at 3:00 p.m., but the teams are well-represented after that.

The 400-meter dash features six Trinity entries – four women and two men. Senior Aliya Jackson (Houston, Texas / Shadow Creek) and junior CC Gray (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame Prep) will be joined by sophomore Lillian Broussard (Houston, Texas / National Christian) and first-year Vanessa Garcia (Seguin, Texas / Navarrro) in the women's events that are up first. The men will follow with Johnson and first-year Price Schultea (Cypress, Texas / Cypress Christian) getting in on the action.

Duggan is Trinity's only runner in the 800-meter race at 4:30 p.m. and the event moves to a rolling schedule after the 800 is done. Broussard, Huck, and Selber will run in the 200-meter dash for the Tiger women, while Bishop makes his return for the Trinity men in the 200.

Trinity does not have any entries in the Distance Medley Relay that comes up following the 200, but both the men and women have a team entered for the final event of the BSC Icebreaker: the 1,600-meter relay. Gray, Garcia, Jackson, Huck, and Broussard are all potential runners for the women, while Johnson, Schultea, Bishop, and Duggan will run for the Tiger men.

After the lone meet of the fall semester concludes, the Tigers will return in late-January with the first of two FasTrak meets at the University of Houston. The first is schedued for January 20, followed two weeks later on February 3.