ATLANTA – The Centre men's track & field team began the outdoor portion of the 2025 season at the Emory Spring Break Classic, where they competed against a gigantic field of teams spanning all divisions. The meet was not scored, but the Colonels picked up where they left off at the indoor season with some great performances, taking down three school records.
 
In the 400m, Jackson Heim had an impressive seventh place finish as he posted a time of 48.61 and then teamed with Hunter Foster, Dirk Gambrel and Corbin Ison to take fourth place in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:19.25. The men's 800m saw Carter Russell turn in a time of 1:56 flat to finish in ninth place and come less than a quarter of a second from breaking the 45-year program record in the race.
 
The first record to fall came in the 1500m as Reeve VanDemark clocked in with a time of 3:57.71 to break Will Lovell's 2024 high mark in the event and finish in second place. In the 5k open race, Mitchell Chaffin finished in eighth place with a time of 16:04.13, followed immediately by Baxter Keith in 16:05.18.
 
Gambrel put his name in the Centre record books yet again as he posted a time of 14.84 in the 110m hurdles to break his prior school record by 0.04 seconds. That time was good enough to finish in third place, with Justin Lewis taking sixth place at 15.18. Gambrel also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 54.24.
 
In the jumping events, freshman Isaac Johnson cleared 6-6 (1.98m) in the high jump to tie three other Centre athletes for the top mark in program history, getting the win in the process. Indoor All-American Cree Ross posted three top-ten finishes in his jumps, posting marks of 49-8.5 (15.15m) in the triple jump, 22-9.75 (6.95m) in the long jump and 6-0.75 (1.85m) in the high jump, with the triple jump mark earning a victory. Jacob Rogers also posted a pair of top-ten finishes, taking ninth in the triple jump and tenth in the long jump.
 
Finally, in throws, the freshman class had a promising outdoor debut for the Centre men. Luke Cole threw 177-3 (54.03m) in the javelin to finish fourth, followed by a mark of 143-11 (43.87m) for sixth place in the discus. In the shot put, SAA Indoor Newcomer of the Year David Harless finished eighth overall with a mark of 46-4 (14.12m) in the shot put.
 
NEXT UP
 
The Colonels will return to action on Mar. 29 with a meet at Berea.