ATLANTA - The Centre men's track & field team began the outdoor portion of the 2026 season at the Emory Spring Break Classic, a non-scored meet that featured teams from all divisions. Despite the field and lack of team scores, there were several strong performances from the Centre men.

In the 100m, Jayden Channer finished third overall with a time of 10.47. He later raced in the 200m and finished eighth overall with a time of 21.62, first among D3 runners in the field for both races. Jackson Heim gave Centre two runners in the top eight in the 100m as he clocked in at 10.74 to finish sixth.

Later in the meet, Heim put his name into the Centre record book as he posted a time of 47.16 in the 400m, breaking the record national champion JP Vaught had held in the event since 2022. He finished second overall in the race, first among Division III competitors.

The men's 1500m saw Reeve VanDemark finish a second shy of his previous school record in the race as he finished with a time of 3:58.43. VanDemark also finished eighth in the 800m with a time of 1:57.76.

In the 110m hurdles, Julian Veliquette took fifth place overall with a time of 15.01, second among D3 competitors.

In the 5k, a pair of Centre runners came close to the school record in the race while finishing in the top eight overall as Noah George finished seventh with a time of 15:02.99, followed by Liam Black in 15:05.63.

Former Centre high jump record holder Michael Smith tied for first place in the event as he cleared 6-4.75 (1.95m).

All-American triple jumper Cree Ross picked up where he left off from last week's NCAA Indoor Championships as he finished second overall - first among Division III competitors - with a mark of 48-7.5 (14.82m). Ross also had a strong outdoor debut in the long jump, posting a mark of 22-10.5 (6.97m) to finish sixth, but again first among D3 jumpers.

Moving onto the throwing events, David Harless had an impressive outdoor debut in the hammer as he threw 160-8 (48.97m) to finish eighth overall. In the javelin, Luke Cole had an excellent throw of 188-1 (57.33m) to finish in third place, with Veliquette finishing in seventh. Cole did even better in the shot put as he picked up the win with a throw of 53-2.25 (16.21m), with Harless coming in fifth. In the discus, Cole finished fourth overall as he posted a mark of 151-8 (46.23m)

NEXT UP

The Colonels will be idle next week and will return to action on Apr. 4 with the Centre Invitational.