DANVILLE, Ky. – The Centre men's track & field team got the 2024-25 season off to a promising start as the defending SAA indoor champions opened up with the Centre First Chance. The event was not scored, but Centre's athletes had several excellent performances, including a couple of new school records.
 
In the distance races, the Colonels swept the top three in the 5k. Mitchel Meier got the win with a time of 16:07.33, followed by Aidan Taylor and Joe Brandel. The mile saw Reeve VanDemark finish second with a time of 4:27.84, with Carter Russell finishing right behind him in third. The Centre men raced nearly everybody on the cross country team in the 3000m and took each of the top nine spots, with James Schroeder recording the fastest time in 9:00.37.
 
The first record to fall at today's meet for the Colonels came in the 60m hurdles as Dirk Gambrel broke his previous record in the event from two years ago with a time of 8.43 to get the win. Justin Lewis finished second in the race with a time of 8.49, which was also faster than the previous record from 2022. Drew Farr finished third to give Centre a 1-2-3 finish in the 60m hurdles.
 
In the other short races, Jackson Heim picked up a win for Centre in the 400m as he posted a time of 49.94. Heim also finished second in the 200m with a time of 22.98.
 
The Colonels also earned a relay victory as the team of Gambrel, Lewis, Heim and Corbin Ison took first place in the men's 4x400 with a time of 3:30.36.
 
Moving to the jumping events, the top mark for Centre in the long jump came courtesy of Evan Peters, who posted a jump of 19-2.25 to finish sixth overall. The triple jump saw Philippe N'Dia finish fifth with a mark of 39-2.75. Freshman Isaac Johnson had a strong debut in the high jump, winning the event by clearing 6-2.75. In the pole vault, All-American Logan Isaacs cleared 16-4.75 to get the win, finishing less than two inches shy of his Centre indoor record.
 
The final record of the day for the Centre men came in the shot put as freshman David Harless broke Allen Richardson's 2022 record with a throw of 49-1.75 to finish third overall. Freshman Luke Cole also had a strong throw in his collegiate debut, finishing right behind Harless at 48-2.75. In the weight throw, Terique Murphy-Adams had the best throw of the day for the Colonels, finishing third with a mark of 45-4, followed by Cole and Harless.
 
NEXT UP
 
The next meet for Centre track & field will be the Centre Indoor Showcase on Jan. 25.