OAK RIDGE, Tenn.— The Montreat women's track & field team began its 2025 indoor season on Wednesday with the Ben Martin First Chance Meet in Oak Ridge, Tenn. With 28 entries across nine events, the Cavaliers broke two school records, met two national standards and claimed four event victories.
Coming off their NAIA All-American performances at the 2024 NAIA Cross Country Championships,
Heather Murphy and
Dylan Garcia picked up right where they left off. Participating in the 5000m race, Murphy obliterated the program's previous record time. The Portarlington, Ireland native crushed the mark by 43.21 seconds while easily hitting the NAIA "A" standard. Murphy's 17:02.70 performance proved good enough for first out of 18 runners. Garcia ended fourth with an NAIA "B" standard showing of 17:32.88.
Montreat also achieved a new school record in the shot put.
Emma Barnes eclipsed her own program-best mark by 0.07m when she finished second of eight competitors thanks to her 11.16m effort.
The Cavs excelled in the 400m by snagging the top five spots on the event leaderboard.
Kaylene Manternach won the race with a personal-best time of 1:02.25.
Emily Standifer (2
nd; 1:02.97) finished just behind her teammate, while
Yessenia Castellanos (3
rd; 1:05.36),
Natalia Nieto (4
th; 1:06.12) and
Corrie Williams (5
th; 1:08.10) made their indoor 400m debuts.
Also on the track,
Macy Parks took home first place in her 1000m indoor debut. The Denver, N.C. native needed just 3:04.41 to complete her race. Nieto (3
rd; 3:17.02) notched a career-best time in the event as well, and Castellanos (3:18.68) ended fourth.
Jessica Gakeri secured Montreat's fourth and final event victory of the day. Participating in the long jump, Gakeri beat out a field of six athletes with her 5.26m leap. The Cavaliers claimed the top four spots in the long jump, and
Lydia Norman (2
nd; 5.16m) recorded a personal best.
For a full look at results from the Ben Martin First Chance Meet, click
here.
The Montreat women's track & field team returns to competition on Saturday for the Visit Winston-Salem College Kick-off. Events are slated to commence at 9:30 a.m. at JDL Fast Track.
