CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Mar. 21, 2026) - The ETSU men's and women's track & field teams opened their outdoor season against stiff competition at the Charlotte 49er Classic over the weekend. Eight Buccaneers set a total of 10 personal bests across the first full weekend of competition.
Tyla Nicholson carried momentum forward from her historic weight throw gold at the SoCon Indoor Championships, opening her outdoor campaign with a personal best 46.44m hammer throw to finish 11th and a 37.97m discus to rank 12th.
Emma Johnson set a personal best in the javelin with a 25.95m throw, and Sophia Edwrads notched a top-10 finish in the pole vault with a 3.30m clearance.
On the track,
Micailah Cook posted top 10 finishes in both the 100m and 200m, ranking eighth in the 100m dash at 11.80 seconds and 10th in the 200m at 24.29.
Kendall Johnson snagged the only podium of the weekend for the women with an 11:15.68 race time in the 3000m steeplechase, and
Sophie Beach finished fifth in the 10000m run on Friday night with a time of 37:34.83.
Meg Lance finished ninth in the 800m at 2:16.62, and
Camryn Johnson set a PR in the 800m with a 2:24.34.
Distance runners carried the banner for the men's team, with Garrett Hawkins scoring the only ETSU win of the weekend by running a 14:45.59 in the 5000m open race. Nathan Hillis earned podium honors in the 3000m steeplechase with a 9:37.30 race time and followed that up with an 8:58.22 in the 3000m run to finish fourth in that event. Hayden Waleski set a pair of personal bests with a 3:57.90 in the 1500m and a 1:54.65 in the 800m run, ranking 21st and 11th on the final table, respectively. Other PRs included Ben Smith in the 400m (49.78 seconds), Theo Curling in the 200m (24.44 seconds), and Nolan Pedota in the 10000m run (32:34.62).
In the field, Grant Winegar was the highlight with a personal best 43.58m javelin throw on Friday that ranked 21st for the weekend. He added a personal best in the discus on Saturday with a 34.31m toss. Freshman Jack Wilson debuted well in the discus at 37.50m, finishing 28th.
ETSU entered one athlete each in the heptathlon and decathlon.
Brianna Fulford finished 10th overall and was the eighth-best college performer with 4,188 points in the heptathlon, and Gavin Deery finished seventh in the decathlon with 5,576 points.
The Bucs will compete next weekend in the Raleigh Relays, beginning with multis on March 26th. Friday and Saturday coverage will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
For more information on ETSU track & field, go to ETSUBucs.com.
