CULLOWHEE, N.C. (May 12, 2026) - Brent Bell, like LL Cool J before him, won't want it called a comeback, but after going 99.73% of a year without competing, it's difficult to consider it anything else.

The junior's bronze medal in the shot put on Tuesday brought home podium honors in his first event since the previous SoCon Outdoor Championships on May 13, 2025, and put him at the forefront of ETSU's second day at the 2026 SoCon Outdoor Championships. Bell posted a 16.09m best effort on Tuesday, surpassing his silver-winning mark of 15.91m in Birmingham a year ago, and held second place until a late effort by Western Carolina's Kolton Weaver bumped him to third. Bell's bronze joins Nate Hillis' gold in the 3000m steeplechase on Monday as ETSU's medal haul in Cullowhee.

In addition to Bell, notable point scoring efforts came from Milo Willets in the 400m hurdles with a fifth-place finish of 55.74 seconds and Wesley Luisi in the 800m run at 1:53.49, also good for fifth. Luisi set a personal best in the 1500m run at 3:55.53 to claim an extra point in eighth in that event, and Hayden Waleski finished ahead of him in sixth with a personal best 3:53.38.

ETSU finished seventh out of eight competing teams with 47 points. Samford won their sixth consecutive men's outdoor championship with a dominant 238.5 points, well ahead of runner-up Western Carolina with 180.5 points.

For more information on ETSU men's track and field, go to ETSUBucs.com.