The men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted the Trinity Open on Feb. 24 to kick off their outdoor season. The Tigers dominated the competition, gathering six individual victories on the women’s side and five victories on the men’s side, while competing against over seven Division III Texas schools, as well as unattached athletes.

The men’s 3000-meter steeplechase was swept by the Tigers, with senior Jacob Hammond, first-year David Buss and senior Daniel Henkes securing first, second and third place finishes, respectively. In the steeplechase, runners jump over three beams and hurdle into a water pit on their way to the finish line.

Buss focused on running lots of mileage to prepare for the opening meet.

“Specifically, in preparation for the steeple, we had twice a week practices where we do drills over hurdles and practice water jumps,” Buss said.

Hammond, a senior, was ecstatic about the results of the first event.

“The weather wasn’t ideal and I was running solo for most of the race, but even with that, I ran the fastest steeple I’ve ever run,” Hammond said.

Although Hammond set his personal record with a time of 9:49.32, sixth fastest in school history, he still gave credit to his other teammates for starting off the season strong.

“Our other guys also ran really well, especially David [Buss], who ran his first-ever steeplechase on Saturday. Seeing our crew put in really solid work in practice and during the races makes me really excited for the rest of the season,” Hammond said.

Senior Michael Erickson won the men’s 1500-meter run with a time of 4:01.05, and sophomore Colton Hawkins won the men’s 800-meter dash with a time of 1:59.04. The men’s relay team won the 4×100 relay with a time of 42.48 seconds, as well as the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:29.30.

The women’s team posted several stellar performances. First-year Jordan Juran snagged the top spot in the 1500-meter run, and senior Haley McFadden earned the top spot in the women’s 5000-meter run. Senior Elizabeth Peters finished first in the 200-meter dash with a top time of 26.06 seconds.

The Tigers also dominated the hurdles, with sophomore Andy Garza taking home the top spot in the 400-meter hurdle race. Junior Abigail Schneebeck finished second in the 100-meter hurdles.

Junior Mia Loseff finished second in the pole vault, reaching 3.25 meters. Loseff thinks the entire squad got off to a positive start and is already looking forward to the next meet.

“We really got out there this weekend and has a great first meet despite nasty conditions and a very slippery track. Our team was cheering on everyone until the very end, and it was an awesome start to the season,” Loseff said.

Maia Muramoto won the women’s javelin with a throw of 27.67 meters and Stella Affognon placed fourth in the shot put with a mark of 10.89 meters, the seventh best in Trinity’s history.

The Tigers are hosting the Trinity Dual Meet this Saturday, March 3. They will be competing against partial teams from Southwest University and Our Lady of the Lake University.