CINCINNATI, Ohio – University of Pikeville men's and women's track and field opened the 2025 half of their schedule with a strong performance at the Lion Invite hosted by Mount St. Joseph University Saturday.
Zeke Hagley highlighted the men's team after qualifying for NAIA Indoor Nationals after recording a 16.11m toss in the shot put. Hagley finished second in the event and set a new personal and indoor school record.
Hagley is the second member of the UPIKE track and field team to qualify for indoor nationals this year. Hagley will be joining David Exum, which marks the first time in program history that UPIKE will have more than one athlete at NAIA nationals.
Also setting a new personal best in the shot put was Tenzing Lindeman with a 12.88m throw. Lindeman made finals and scored a pair of team points for the Bears.
The men's team cleaned up in the weight throw. Hagley, Aaron Coffey, Alex Rogers, Exum, and Langston Gibson finished fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth in the finals. They all also, along with Lindeman who finished tenth, set new personal bests in the weight throw. In the triple jump, Avery Adderley made finals with a 12.26m leap.
Josh Greathouse set a new personal best in the 400m dash, and Gunter Young made his UPIKE debut today. As a team, the Bears finished in eighth place.
On the women's side, Heaven Carver finished first in the 60m hurdles after running a 9.61, a new school record. Carver set another school record and finished second in the 60m dash with a 8.18.
Carver was not the only Bear to make finals in the 60m dash, however. Faith Newsom, Kylie Hall, and Jaida Garrett also made finals. In total, UPIKE represented four of the seven finalists in the 60m dash.
In addition to their success in the 60m dash, the team of Newsom, Garrett, Sierra Allen, and Carver also set a new school record in the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:59.10.
Valerie Kendrick highlighted the field events where she won the shot-put event with a 11.43m toss. Kendrick's win scored the Bears ten points. The women's team finished fourth overall with 54 total points.
"We opened very well coming off winter break and are starting to hit our stride as we start to get close to conference and national championships. We look forward to seeing what happens over the next couple of weeks," said Coach David Espinoza.
The track and field Bears are back in action Friday when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a meet at Bellarmine University.
#BearDown
