ANDERSON, S.C. - The Brevard College Men's and Women's Track & Field teams kicked off their 2023 season at the Trojan Opener in Anderson, South Carolina. The competitive event featured 16 teams on the men's side and 14 women's teams.

A number of strong results and several collegiate debuts came in Brevard's season-opening meet.

Brevard's Haylea Layne Miller placed fifth (17.36) in the Women's 100-meter hurdles which was immediately followed by a fifth-place finish by Jaxsen Wilkerson (16.63) in his collegiate debut in the Men's 110-meter hurdles.

Next up was the Women's 100 meters where freshman Makayla Street finished fifth out of 24 sprinters with a time of 12.70 in her collegiate track debut.  Street later raced in the 200 meters where she finished 20th.

Channing Barker earned a top-ten with an eighth-place finish for Brevard in the Women's 1500 meters with a time of 5:04.22.  Justin King then led the way for BC in the Men's 1500 meters with a 23rd-place result.

In the Women's 800 meters, Sandra Diaz-Martinez posted a time of 2:50.67, good for a 20th-place result.  BC's Owen Plucar then posted a 20th-place result himself in the Men's 800.

Brevard long-distance runner Zoe Capps earned a top ten in the Women's 5000 meters with a time of 19:31.72 to finish eighth. 

The Men's 5000 meters saw top tens for BC runners Dalton Hawley (8th place, 15:33.02) and Devon Brodmyer (9th place, 15:33.85).  Garrett Spangler finished 19th in the event to give the Tornados three runners in the top 20.

Several significant results also came for the Tornados in the Field events.

In her first collegiate event, freshman Isabell Musser earned a top-flight result with a fifth-place finish in the Women's Shot Put after posting a throw of 10.35 meters.  Senior Grace Pukas finished in 17th place (7.96 meters) in the event.

Musser placed 16th in Women's Discus with a throw of 26.71 meters in the event's finals. 

In Men's Discus, BC placed three throwers in the top 20 with results from freshman Henry Tarte (16th place, 34.39 meters), Jerome Bass (17th place, 34.23 meters) and Gabriel Covington (19th place, 33.13 meters).  Brevard freshman Noah Westbrook finished 17th in Shot Put with a throw of 11.50 meters in his collegiate debut.

In Men's Long Jump, Wilkerson finished 12th with a jump of 6.37 meters, while teammate Luis Alvarez placed 21st.

Next up for Brevard is the Montreat College Invite on March 24-25 in Montreat, North Carolina.

To follow the latest news and updates surrounding Brevard College Athletics, follow the Tornados on Twitter and Instagram @bctornados, subscribe to 'Brevard College Tornados' on YouTube, follow 'Brevard College Tornados' on SoundCloud, and 'Brevard College Athletics' on Facebook. In addition, follow 'brevardcollege' on Flickr for photos from Brevard College events

-BC-