SAN ANTONIO – The Tiger men's and women's track & field teams finished off its home debut at the Trinity Invitational with 16 performances landing in the top three of their respective events.

As the only home meet on the schedule for the 2023 season, Trinity also honored its Tiger seniors during today's events. Trinity had two men's individuals and two women's individuals win events on Saturday, with a men's relay also finishing first. There were six total individuals finishing as runner-up in their events, split evenly among the Trinity men's and women's teams. Both teams had another relay finish third, while one female and two male individuals were bronze medalists.

Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel) had an outstanding day as he was runner up in both the triple jump and 110-meter hurdles, while also anchoring the top 4x400-meter relay team in the meet. Johnson was joined by Nicolas Ladreyt (Santa Monica, Calif. / Harvard-Westlake School), Grant Bishop (Geronimo, Texas / Navarro), and Ethan Gilmore (Houston, Texas / Lamar) in the relay, which finished in a time of 3:19.66. That time ranks seventh in school history. Johnson also reached 13.65 meters in the triple jump for one of his top five career jumps in the event. Johnson was the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.51 that is the third-fastest of his career.

Azariah Anderson (Saint Charles, Mo. / Francis Howell North) won the 110 hurdles ahead of Johnson with a stellar time of 14.44 seconds. That time is the third-fastest in school history.  

Joy Areola (Tomball, Texas / Rosehill Christian) led a group of three Tiger women to finish in the top four of the triple jump. Areola reached 11.26 to win the event, while both Madeline Wiestruck (Houston, Texas / Northland Christian) and Aliya Noe (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan) notched new personal records with jumps of 10.90 and 10.31 meters to finish second and fourth, respectively.

Trinity swept the 3,000-meter steeplechase events as Ellie Catron (Spring, Texas / The Woodlands Christian) and Diego Flores (San Antonio, Texas / Great Hearts Monte Vista North) were the top finishers for the Tiger women and men. Catron finished in 11:31.34 to win the race, while teammates Maia Dykstra (Clarkston, W. Va. / Asotin) and Elizabeth Thompson (Dallas, Texas / The Cambridge School) both had PR's and finished in the top five. Flores also had a new PR with his time of 9:37.33 that improves his standing in the fourth spot on the Trinity record book for the steeple.

Also finishing second for the Tigers was Danya Selber (Edinburg, Texas / Robert Vela) in the women's 200-meter dash. Selber finished in 26.42 for a new personal-best time, while also anchoring the women's 4x100-meter relay that that finished third. The Tiger relay team finished in 49.07 to take the ninth spot on Trinity's all-time records page. Selber was joined by Areola, Yasmin Subawalla (Houston, Texas / Singapore American School), and Sealan Ledat (Richardson, Texas / Richardson). Selber also finished fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.65 that is tied for the ninth-fastest in school history, while also setting a new personal best with a time of 15.96 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles.

Elaine Kaster (Lewisville, Texas / Founders Classical) had her third-fastest career time (18:29.00) in the 5,000-meter run to finish second, with Em Miller (Danville, Calif. / San Ramon Valley) also finishing fifth in the event. Trinity had three runners earn new personal records in the men's race, led by Eli Karg (Friendswood, Texas / Friendswood) and his third-place time of 15:38.92. Jackson White (Boerne, Texas / Boerne) and Nathaniel Trevino (San Antonio, Texas / Central Catholic) were in the top six in the event and set new PR times of 15:39.45 and 15:41.85, respectively.

Sebastian Langer (Houston, Texas / Clear Lake) ran the 800-meter race in 1:55.05 to earn a spot in the top five all-time at Trinity. Jared Gallagher (Ft. Worth, Texas / Southwest Christian) was sixth, but his time of 1:57.28 is one of the top 15 performances of the past seven seasons at Trinity. Madison Habeck (Lake Jackson, Texas / Clute Brazoswood) and Emily Gnecco (Livermore, Calif. / Livermore) finished in the top five in the women's 800 as well.

Wiestruck started off her day with another standout performance, earning third place in the pole vault with a mark of 3.20 meters. That height is tied for seventh in school history and sets a new personal record. Bailey Dueitt (The Woodlands, Texas / The Woodlands) tied for fourth in the pole vault with her seventh career vault of 3.0 meters or higher. In the men's pole vault, Seth Jacobs (Santa Fe, N.M. / Santa Fe) finished fourth after clearing 4.55 meters for the fourth-best mark in school history.

The men's 4x100 relay team also finished third with a time of 41.70 that puts them in sixth all-time at Trinity. Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek) led off the event, followed by Anderson, Brian Rainey (Cedar Hill, Texas / Cedar Hill), and Gilmore.

Also snagging a third-place finish in the men's 1,500-meter run was Ryan Tresaugue (Spring, Texas / The Woodlands), who crossed the line with a personal-best time of 4:02.44 on Saturday.

The women's 4x400 relay at the close of the day finished fourth with a time of 4:03.17 that ranks ninth in Trinity track & field history. Taylor Kotfas (Blanco, Texas / Blanco) was followed by Ledat, CC Gray (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Notre Dame Prep), and Huck in the relay event. Ledat also raced the second-fastest 200-meter dash of her career, finishing fourth in the event.

Bocar Diagana (Edina, Minn. / Edina) finished fourth in the triple jump, though his distance of 13.43 meters earns him a spot in the top 10 in school history – despite this being his first collegiate outdoor meet.

Coach Speak
"Great outdoor season opener," said Head Coach Marcus Whitehead. "Our team always brings it at home. We really loaded a lot of people up with multiple events and they did great. Looking forward to seeing how we progress over these next few weeks."

Up Next
The Tigers continue the outdoor season March 25 at the TLU Invitational, hosted by Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.