UE track and field begins outdoor season in Saint Louis

ST. LOUIS – The University of Evansville track and field team began its outdoor season at the WashU Distance Carnival and the SLU Speed/Power meet.

The Purple Aces had a big start to their 2025 outdoor season as five separate records fell across two meets. Along with five new program records, UE had nine podium finishes at the SLU Speed/Power meet. Overall, the Evansville men’s team placed fourth of 11th while the women placed sixth of 11th at the Speed/Power meet. The Aces only had three runners compete in the WashU Distance Carnival for no team score.

UE’s first program record fell early as the 4×100-meter men’s team of Jose Ocampo (Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico), Connor Shin (Bloomington, Ind. / Bloomington North HS), Myles Terry (Evansville, Ind. / North HS), and Raymond Felton III (Houston / Clear Brook HS) placed second for the 76th fastest time in Division 1. The team ran the relay in 41.28 seconds to break the Evansville program record that stood for over 50 years by just over seven tenths of a second.

Sophomore sprinter Taylor Johnson (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz HS) had the best individual day for the Aces, breaking two program records and having a podium finish in all three events she competed in. Johnson earned the top spot in the women’s 400-meter race with a time of 57.30 seconds to break her program record in the event from 2024 by three-tenths of a second. The sophomore also finished third in both the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash while breaking the 200-meter dash program record. Johnson ran the 200 in 25.32 seconds to eclipse the previous record of 26 seconds and ran the 100 in 12.41 seconds. Sophomore Chase Hayes (Noblesville, Ind. / Western HS) was the only other UE sprinter on the women’s team to compete on Friday, placing ninth in the 400-meter race with a time of 1:02.02.

Evansville had three runners in the men’s 400-meter race placed in the Top 10, with sophomore Cedrik Filpo (Beloeil, Quebec) leading the way in third with a time of 48.95 seconds. Senior Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS) finished sixth with a time of 50.93 seconds, and sophomore Jakub Nowicki (Poznan, Poland) finished 10th with a time of 51.91 seconds. The Aces had six runners in the men’s 100-meter dash as Felton III took the first place with a time of 10.60 seconds for the 82nd fastest time among DI runners.

Terry and Shin also finished in the Top 15 at 11.09 and 11.14 seconds for 10th and 12th. UE’s other three runners in the 100-meter were Ocampo at 11.20 seconds, freshman Zander Pickens (Poseyville, Ind. / North Posey HS) at 11.57 seconds, and senior Antwaun Powell (Ringgold, Ga. / Heritage HS) at 12.21 seconds for his first running event of the season.

In the hurdle events, junior Kate Walke (Batesville, Ind. / Oldenburg Academy) placed sixth in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.55 to break her 2024 record by five 1/100th of a second.  Pickens also competed in his first 400-meter hurdle event on Friday night, finishing in the Top 10 with a time of 1:00.29 for ninth.

Three of the four Evansville runners in the women’s 800-meter race finished back-to-back-to-back. Freshman Lauren Bradley (Russiaville, Ind. / Western HS) led the way in seventh with a time of 2:30.11, followed by freshman Rebekah Sachs (Milwaukee / Milwaukee School of Languages) and sophomore Kyndall Anthis (Pakota, Ind. / Princeton Community HS). Freshman Skyler Dickenson (Brownsburg, Ind. / Brownsburg HS) also finished in the Top 15 with a time of 2:39.44.

In the men’s 800 race freshman Kaiden McAllister (Lilburn, Ga. / Parkview HS) had the best finish for the Aces with a time of 2:02.20. He was followed by sophomore Owen Cuplin (Hampshire, Ill. / Hampshire HS) with a time of 2:02.91 and junior Alejandro Navarrette (Mogadore, Ohio / Mogadore HS) with a time of 2:09.29. UE’s final mid-distance event of the day was the men’s 1,500-meter race, where freshman Andrew Potter (Warsaw, Ind. / Warsaw Community HS) placed first at 4:25.15. Fellow freshman Oliver Wilgocki (Chesterton, Ind. / Chesterton HS) also had a podium finish, placing third with a time of 4:38.86.

Evansville had three distance runners compete at the WashU Distance Carnival on Friday as well. Sophomore Tomasso Losma (Lombardia, Italy) ran the men’s 1500-meter race for a time of 3:55.62. While sophomore Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) broke his 5K time from 2024 by over 17 seconds at 14:41.82. The Aces’ last runner to compete at WashU was sophomore Avery Stephens (Newburg, Ind. / Castle HS) in the women’s 10K race with a time of 40:25.98.

UE had two athletes compete in the men’s long jump and the women’s high jump on Friday. Powell’s longest jump was 5.65 meters for his first outdoor event of the year. Sophomore Lilyana Gargano (Hudson, Fla. / Fivay HS) placed seventh in the women’s high jump at 1.45 meters.

Junior Gwen Darrah (Cleveland, Ohio / Orange HS) finished fourth in the women’s hammer with a throw of 42.59 meters on Friday. Freshman Emma Bertel (Franklin, Ind. / Franklin Community HS) threw her first women’s hammer event at 25.21 meters.

Bertel had more success in the women’s shotput placing fifth with a throw of 11.02 meters. Senior Katilyn Sansone (Fairfield, Ohio / Mercy McAuley HS) had a Top 15 finish with a throw of 9.52 meters while junior Holland Morris (Florence, Ky. Randall K. Cooper HS) threw for 5.48 meters in her first event of the outdoor season.

The Evansville men’s team had two throwers in the hammer throw on Friday afternoon. Sophomore Tyler Chrene (Boardman, Ohio / Boardman HS) earned a podium finish with a throw of 48.15 meters for third. Sophomore Cole Johnson (Salem, Il. Salem Community HS) also placed in the Top 15 at 11th with a throw of 39.27 meters.

The Aces return to competition on Saturday at the SLU Billiken Invite. UE will start the day with throws at 9:30 a.m., while the first track events begin at 11:30 a.m.

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