BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.– The Cavaliers opened their track & field season at the Montreat College Winter Kickoff on Thursday afternoon at Pulliam Stadium. Overall, the team hit 14 qualifying standards for the 2019 Appalachian Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. The men had most of those marks, including five in the 600m run. Ahmad Perryman took home the win with a time of 1:23.46 with teammate Azavier Kirtley close behind in 1:23.86. Caleb Thornburg made his debut for the Cavaliers with a third place finish (1:25.96) with Tom Hanke (1:25.14) and Brad Wilder (1:27.56) rounding out the top five.

Coming off of a memorable cross country season, the distance crew put in some strong performances. Antonio Gomez was victorious in the Mile with a time of 4:29.90 while teammate Caleb Silver placed second in 4:33.09. The two would later switch positions as Silver, the defending AAC champion in the 1000m, won the event today with a time of 2:37.59 with Gomez pacing just behind in 2:39.48. In the 5000m, freshman Nathan Richards etched his name in the Montreat record books with a time of 15:30.47, which was good for third place in the event. Fellow Cavs Jacob Parker (16:16.97), Rylan Hincher (16:26.03), and Garret Welsh (16:44.00) also hit AAC qualifying times in the race. Lee Wooden kicked off his senior campaign with an AAC qualifying mark and school record of 19:31.19 in the 3000m racewalk.

On the women's side, cross country All-American Lydia Wilson punched another ticket to nationals as she blazed the field in the women's 5000m, clocking a school-record time of 17:58.37. That time is also an "A" standard mark for the 2019 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships which will be held in March in Brookings, South Dakota. Wilson was joined by three other teammates in the 5k, with Skyler Tait (19:24.50), Madeline Sides (20:59.08), and Rosalea Marshall (21:45.72) all hitting the AAC standard for the event.

"We were grateful for some decent weather today and the chance to compete and kick off the track & field season," said Director of XC/TF Jason Lewkowicz. "This race gave our distance runners one more chance to race before hitting the reset button while allowing our strong 400m crew to get things started for their track season. This has been an amazing group to work with so far and this really gets me excited about what is to come when we really get going with the track season next semester."

The Cavaliers will send a group to compete in the JDL College Kickoff Classic on Saturday, Dec. 2 while Lydia Wilson, Rylan Hincher, and Garret Welsh will wrap up the Cavs' 2018 campaign by competing in the Kiawah Island Half Marathon on Saturday, Dec. 8.