BOONE, N.C. – The App State men's and women's track and field teams begin the outdoor season Friday at the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Challenge.
The women's team rounded out its indoor season with a fourth-place finish in the Sun Belt Championships. The championships were highlighted by a third-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay, which included setting a school record with a time of 3:41.81. Ava Studney earned a first-place finish in the pole vault, and junior Kendall Johnson added a second-place finish in the 60-meter dash. This is the second consecutive year the team has earned a top-four finish in the Sun Belt Championships. The Mountaineers received nine All-Sun Belt honors, including first-team honoree Studney and second-team honoree Johnson. At the outdoor Sun Belt Championships last year, Lilly Nichols stood out with a second-place finish in the pole vault as a freshman, earning an invitation to the NCAA Championships.
The men's team ended its outdoor season last year with a fifth-place finish at the Sun Belt Championships. Highlighted by a first-place finish in the 1,500 meters by Ethan Lipham, he also placed first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. They earned a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay and a second-place finish by returner Matthew Gray in the pole vault. The team earned eight All-Sun Belt honors, including a first-team finish by Lipham and a second-team finish by Gray. Another returner poised for a strong outdoor season is Ray Lee, who set personal bests in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints during the preliminary rounds of the 2025 Sun Belt Championships.
Both squads look to replicate their strong start to the outdoor season from last year, when both took home victories in the Myrtle Beach Collegiate Challenge. Over the course of the weekend last year, the Mountaineers set a men's 3,000-meter program record, broke the women's 4x100-meter relay meet record, totaled nine event wins, and tallied 49 top-eight finishes. These included first-place finishes in the men's 3,000 meters, women's 4x100-meter relay, women's 4x400-meter relay, women's 100 meters, and the men's 1,500 meters.
Field events begin Friday, March 13, at 10 a.m. The day starts with the men's hammer throw and the women's javelin toss. Track events begin at 12:15 p.m., with the first Mountaineers competing at 1 p.m. in the women's 100-meter preliminaries.
