Columbia, SC- For their first outdoor track meet of the season, the Trailblazers took a quick trip to Columbia International University for the John Hunter Classic. The women's team finished first overall with 141 points and the men's team finished fourth overall with 73 points, with many athletes from both teams posting personal bests across various events.
            
Starting with the women's field events, senior Hannah Hill jumped a personal best height in the high jump at 1.54 meters. Fellow senior Katlyn Rose set a personal best in the hammer throw throwing a distance of 32.22 meters. 
            
For the men's field events, sophomore Taylor Campell set a personal best and a new school record in the hammer throw, throwing a distance of 48.46 meters. The freshmen field athletes had an outstanding weekend. AJ Nash set personal bests in both the hammer throw and the discus, throwing 35.49 meters and 39.24 meters, respectively. Ty Stover set a personal best in the javelin, throwing 30.59 meters. Justin Pauling set a personal best in the long jump at 6.52 meters.
            
For the women's sprints, Hill and Rose continued their stellar campaign. Hill and Rose both ran personal bests in the 100-meter hurdles, running 15.13 and 16.54 respectively. Rose also ran a collegiate personal best in the 400-meter hurdles, running 1:11.37.
            
For the women's 5,000-meter run, junior Zoie Justice ran a lifetime personal best of 20:12.47. Senior Kaylee Copeland was close behind, crossing the line at 20:54.88, also a personal best for her. Freshman Brelyn Birch finished in 22:19.93, another lifetime personal best for the women's 5,000-meter crew. 
            
For the men's 5,000-meter run, sophomore Thomas Schilling moved himself to the fifth spot on the program's All-Time list, running a lifetime personal best of 15:17.11. Fellow sophomore Joel Herman finished next for the Trailblazers, running a personal best of 15:43.88. Senior Jaxon Beebe ran a personal best of 16:24.66, and he was closely followed by junior Nick Lavelle, who ran a personal best of16:32.31. Sophomore Dominique Cox rounded out the men's 5,000-meter runners, crossing the line in 16:38.58, also a personal best. 
            
The longest event of the meet- the 10,000-meter run- saw successful performances all around. For the women, sophomore Riley Shope ran a personal best of 41:26.66. At nearly the same time, junior Rebekah Haddad crossed the line in 41:26.67, also a personal best. Fellow junior Paris Alsup also set a personal best, stopping the clock at 41:26.89. For the men, senior Matthew Heath won in a solo effort, running a personal best of 33:43.73. 
            
The 1500-meter run also had many personal bests. Cecily Anderton finished first for the Trailblazers at 4:51. Alsup and Haddad ran personal bests again, finishing at 5:12 and 5:13 respectively. Christiana Gidney was close behind at 5:15. For the men, Heath finished at 4:30. 
            
In the 800, for the women, Birch ran her second personal best of the meet, finishing in 2:40. For the men, Schilling and Herman also ran their second personal bests of the meet, running 2:00 and 2:02, respectively. 
            
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Shope ran a personal best and broke her own previous school record, running 11:40.56. 
            
The Trailblazers will take a break from competition this upcoming weekend. But, they will be back in action when they travel up to Charlotte, NC for the Charlotte 49-er Classic at the University of North Carolina Charlotte on March 21^st and 22^nd.