By: Connor Gulick, Head Cross Country Coach

The Beavers kicked off the outdoor season heading down south on Interstate 75 to Transylvania, which will be the host for the 2026 HCAC Championships, for the Pioneer Invite on Saturday, March 21. The meet gave a good sense of how the Beavers stack up in the conference as 5 of the 10 HCAC schools were in attendance.

Kicking off the day in the javelin was senior Coen North (Denver, Col./North) and picked up right where he left off last season as he won the event with throw of 57.50 meters which currently ranks 17th in the nation. Freshman Bryson Taylor (New Orleans, La./Abramson Tech Charter) led the shot put group with a toss of 10.43 meters. Fellow freshman Jose Garcia (Deshler/Leipsic) led this discus crew with a toss of 33.41 meters. Freshman Thomas Sharper (Sumter, SC) paced the hammer group with a toss of 22.90 meters.

On the sprints side, sophomore Delainta Crawford (Douglasville, Ga./Lithia Springs) led the way in the 100 and 400 with times of 11.75 and 55.15, respectively. Sophomore Hassan Greene (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Snyder) led the way in the 200 with a PR of 23.63 and he had a PR in the 100 with a time of 11.94. Junior Mathias Garcia (Fort Wayne, Ind./New Haven) also had a PR in the 200 with a time of 24.78. Freshman Quince Reese (Killeen, Texas/Ellison) made his debut in the 400 hurdles and qualified for the conference championship with a time of 1:00.90.

In the jumps, freshman Demari Bailey (Hiram, Ga) had an impressive debut in long jump with a jump of 6.00 meters which had him 7th on the day. Greene led the triple jump group with a mark of 11.85 meters.

On the distance side, senior Jarrod Roudebush (Coshocton) and sophomore Malcolm Hudson (Villa Rica, Ga) both had season bests in the 800 with times of 2:11.39 and 2:15.60, respectively, the latter of which was a PR for Hudson. Junior Micah Dodson (Wooster/Central Christian) made his 5k debut, running 19:56.08 through the heat.

On the women's side, junior Amelia Adams (Celina) tied for 1st in high jump, clearing 1.47 meters and she finished runner up in long jump with a leap of 4.62 meters.

On the distance side, sophomore Sara Smith (Mansfield/Madison Comprehensive) finished 5th in the 1500 with a PR of 5:02.90 which ranks her 4th in the conference. Fellow sophomore Kamryn McDonald (Marion/Harding) made her 5k debut outdoors with a time of 25:11.41.

In the sprints, junior Sharon Keefer (Plain City/Jonathan Alder) made her collegiate track debut, running 14.40 seconds in the 100 and 30.38 in the 200.

In the throws, freshmen Alana Alexander-Davis (Sandusky) paced the shot put with a toss of 8.23 meters. Freshman Gabrielle Taylor (Sandusky) made her discus debut with a toss of 19.12 meters.

The Beavers will be back in action on Saturday, March 28, hitting the road to Denison University in Granville for the Denison Lid Lifter.

-BEAVERS-