SEGUIN, Texas – The Trinity University men's and women's track & field team won 10 events and finished with nearly 50 top-five performances to highlight Saturday's performances at the D3 Challenge, hosted by Texas Lutheran University.

Madeline Wietstruck (Houston, Texas / Northland Christian) was the only Tiger athlete to win multiple events this weekend, securing the top spot in both the pole vault and the triple jump. Her vault of 3.30 meters is tied for the fourth-best in school history. Wietstruck also hit 11.15 meters in the triple jump to move into eighth all-time at Trinity in that event.

Azariah Anderson (Saint Charles, Mo. / Francis Howell North) also had another standout performance in the men's 110-meter hurdles, moving up to second in Trinity history with a winning time of 14.19 seconds that is currently the best time in the nation in NCAA III. He is just 0.03 seconds from breaking the school record set by Todd Wildman in 2009.

Joy Areola (Tomball, Texas / Rosehill Christian) was the runner-up to Wietstruck in the triple jump with a mark of 10.99 meters, but she also won the long jump event with a leap of 5.29 meters. That matches her best distance this season. Areola was also part of the second-place 4x100-meter relay team that notched a time of 49.11 seconds, while also finishing seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.89 seconds.

Joining Areola on the 4x100 relay team was another event winner: Sealan Ledat (Richardson, Texas / Richardson). Ledat won the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.14 seconds that puts her eighth all-time at Trinity.

Rounding out the relay team were Avery Puig (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) and Danya Selber (Edinburg, Texas / Robert Vela). Puig also finished as the runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.53 seconds and was sixth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:11.31. Selber was second in the 100 with a time of 12.65 and fourth in the 100 hurdles in 15.77 seconds.

Cooper Tyler (Austin, Texas / Anderson) had a pair of top-three finishes on Saturday, including a gold-medal performance in the javelin throw. He hit 54.53 meters in the event, moving up to seventh in school history with the best throw by a Tiger since before 2017. Tyler was also third in the high jump with a height of 1.87 meters to tie his personal record.

Sebastian Langer (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) was also an event winner with his victory in the 800-meter run, finishing in 1:54.42 to move up to fourth in Trinity's record book.

The final men's team member to win an event was Casey Hampton (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian), who took the top honors in the long jump with a leap of 6.93 meters.

Taylor Kotfas (Blanco, Texas / Blanco) moved to sixth all-time at Trinity with her performance in the 400-meter dash. Kotfas finished the race in 58.96 seconds, knocking half-a-second off of her season-opening time at the Trinity Invitational three weeks ago.

Finally, Tiger women's distance runner Gianna Keena (Lakeway, Texas / Lake Travis) won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:24.71 on Saturday. The time is her personal best and is just outside the top 10 in school history. She was also the anchor leg of the women's 4x400-meter relay team that finished fourth with a time of 4:22.99 at the D3 Challenge.

Joining Keena on the relay team were Gish Sainz (El Paso, Texas / Coronado), Josette Gurule (Santa Fe, N.M. / Academy for Technology and the Classics), and Emily Gnecco (Livermore, Calif. / Livermore). Sainz also earned third place in the 1500-meter run with a time of 5:09.60, while Gurule finished second behind Keena in the 800 with a time of 2:25.53.

CC Gray (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame Prep) was second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.77 and fifth in the 200 with a time of 26.52. Peyton Bohlinger (Mercer Island, Wash. / Mercer Island) was second in the high jump after clearing 1.46 meters.

Kierra Francois (Angleton, Texas / Angleton) had three top-five finishes overall and another performance that was in the top 10. She earned the bronze medal in both the discus (36.88 meters) and hammer throw (41.47 meters), while also earning fifth in the javelin throw (33.84 meters), and seventh in the shot put (10.87 meters).

Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel) also had three finishes in the top five, including one of the best performances in school history in the 110 hurdles. Johnson joins A. Anderson as one of just five Trinity athletes to finish in less than 15 seconds, posting a time of 14.74 to finish third on Saturday. He moves up to fourth in school history with the performance. Johnson was also third in the triple jump with a mark of 13.28 meters and fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.95 seconds.

Aliya Noe (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) was third in both the long jump and triple jump behind her teammates. Noe reached 4.92 meters in the long jump and 10.40 meters in the triple jump.

Maggie Nava (San Antonio, Texas / Holy Cross) was fourth in the shot put with her top throw of 11.58 meters, which moves her up to fourth in school history in the event.

Ethan Gilmore (Houston, Texas / Lamar) was third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.83 seconds and also joined A. Anderson for the men's 4x100 relay that finished second. Gilmore and A. Anderson were joined by Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek)and Brian Rainey (Cedar Hill, Texas / Cedar Hill) in the race. Grigsby was also seventh in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.91 seconds that is a new personal record and tied for the ninth-best in school history.

Fourth-place finishers included Melvin Cruz (Houston, Texas / Awty International School) in the 3000-meter steeplechase (10:43.88), Yasmin Subawalla (Houston, Texas / Singapore American School) in the 100-meter dash (12.77 seconds), Madeleine Seabolt (San Diego, Calif. / Mt. Carmel) in the discus (36.14 meters), and Seth Jacobs (Santa Fe, Texas / Santa Fe) in the pole vault (4.35 meters).

The men's 4x400-meter relay team of Kyle Anderson (Cave Creek, Ariz. / Cactus Shadows), Marco Boisselier (El Paso, Texas / Coronado), Marco Bonilla (San Antonio, Texas / TMI Episcopal), and Sebastian Buscemi (Wyncote, Pa. / Cheltenham) finished fifth with a time of 3:30.79.

Hayley Huck (Prosper, Texas / Prosper) and Bocar Diagana (Edina, Minn. / Edina) both had top-five finishes in two different events. Huck was fifth in both the 400 (1:01.46) and the 100 hurdles (15.88), while Diagana was fifth in the high jump (1.82 meters) and triple jump (12.89 meters).

Pierce Jackson (Addison, Texas / Dallas Jesuit), Bailey Dueitt (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands), Grant Bishop (Geronimo, Texas / Navarro), and Jenna Harvey (Andover, Ohio / Pymatuning Valley) rounded out Trinity's top-five finishers at the meet. Jackson achieved the honor in the javelin (49.48 meters), Dueitt in the pole vault (2.85 meters), Bishop in the 400-meter dash (50.72 seconds), and Harvey tied for fifth in the high jump (1.41 meters).

Coach Speak
"All told we had 43 new personal bests set at the D3 Challenge and won 10 events," began Head Coach Marcus Whitehead. "Our student-athletes stepped up in a variety of ways and really took advantage of the opportunities at Rice and TLU. Anyone who ran more than 200 meters was facing pretty stiff headwinds, so the fact that we had so many PR's in races 400 meters and up showed how resilient this team is. Next weekend will be a step up in competition and it looks like we are ready."  

Up Next
Both Tiger men's and women's teams will resume competition next weekend, with two separate events on the horizon. Select athletes have qualified for the Texas Relays, hosted by the University of Texas over a four-day period that begins on Wednesday, March 29. Other team members will compete at Texas State University's Bobcat Invitational, held Thursday-Saturday, March 30-April 1.