Cullowhee, N.C. -- While the Western Carolina track and field teams prepare to put foot to the pavement at the Montreat College Open to begin the outdoor portion of its 2023-24 schedule, let's look back at the entirety of the 2023-24 indoor season.
Meet One: Clemson Opener | December 8, 2023
For the third time in five seasons, the Catamounts opened their indoor season with an early December trip to the Palmetto State. The first of two back-to-back meets hosted by Clemson, Western Carolina got their feet wet against tough competition – and was able to put in strong performances early. Henry Stecher took the highest finish of the meet for the Catamounts, placing second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.03. Freshman Heidi Hudson made her mark on the Catamount record books by taking a third-place finish home thanks to a leap of 6.09 meters in the Long Jump, which stands tied with Rahma Matteen's mark in the 1996 season for the second-furthest in program history
Top 5's: 8 | Top 3's: 3
All-Time Top Five Performers:
Women's Long Jump: Heidi Hudson (6.09m) | T-2nd
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Meet Two: Clemson Invite | January 12-13, 2024
WCU ventured back to South Carolina for its first meet of 2024 and returned to the same facility as the Catamounts took the Clemson Invite head-on. A handful of Catamount student-athletes took strong finishes despite a stronger competition field that limited opportunities for the Purple and Gold. Junior transfer CJ McFerrin hurdled his way into the Western Carolina record books thanks to a blisteringly fast time of 7.95 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. As one of only two athletes to post sub-8.00 second times, he now stands second in the school's history, trailing only Cordell Livingston's 7.85 second time in 2010.
Top 5's: 4
All-Time Top Five Performers:
Men's 60m Hurdles: CJ McFerrin (7.95s) | 2nd
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Meet Three: Brant Tolsma Invitational | January 18-20, 2024
The Catamounts broke their run of South Carolina events with their first of four straight meets in Virginia to close out the 2023-24 indoor season, the first of which was the Liberty-hosted Brant Tolsma Invitational. The Purple and Gold men's team took the stage as they came away with the first two event wins of the season as the 4x400 meter team of David Miles, Teddy Ayden, Quinton Godfrey, and Elias Barton scorched the competition with a 3:19.01 time. Additionally, Javon Brown took his first of two event wins on the season thanks to a leap of 7.10 meters. On the women's side, the school's all-time performance list became a bit crowded as both Sydney Runyan's time of 3:10.72 and Peyton Skoglund's time of 3:10.82 moved them into the top five in the 1000-meter run.
Top 5's: 9 | Top 3's: 5 | Event Wins: 2
All-Time Top Five Performers:
Men's 1000m: John Davis (2:33.15) | 4th
Women's 1000m: Sydney Runyan (3:10.72) | 4th
Women's 1000m: Peyton Skoglund (3:10.82) | 5th
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Meet Four: VMI Winter Relays | February 2-3, 2024
WCU's first trip to Lexington, Va., allowed the squads to get a feel for the VMI Corps Physical Training Facility, the host site of the 2024 Southern Conference Indoor Championships. There, both the men's and women's teams added an event win to their totals as the distance medley relay quartets took the top spot on the day. The men's team consisting of Henry Stecher, Kylen Crosby, Chase Thurber, and Knox Witherspoon took first place by a narrow, five-second margin over Lincoln Memorial. Meanwhile, the women's team of Lauren Esselborn, Clara Root, Sydney Lowe, and Madelynn Duffield cruised to a dominant win in the event, with nearly 30 seconds between them and second-place team Winston-Salem State.
Top 5's: 9 | Top 3's: 3 | Event Wins: 2
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Meet Five: Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational | February 9-10, 2024
The final meet of the regular season saw the Catamounts return to Liberty for the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational for a final tune-up before the 2024 SoCon Indoor Championships. Javon Brown paved the way for the Catamounts, taking his second first-place finish of the season this time in the triple jump. His mark of 15.36 meters placed him fourth on the school's all-time leaderboard, behind only Jerry Gaines, his brother Javell Brown, and Dijoun Huitt. Brown was one of five Catamounts to either write their names on the top-five performer's list or move up on the leaderboard as John Davis as well as Sydney Lowe and Amaya Hicks posted strong times in the men's and women's 1,000 meters respectively. In addition, Quinton Godfrey sprinted to the school's all-time top-five list in the 300 meters with a time of 34.48 seconds. In addition, David Miles' time of 34.41 seconds in the same event would have earned him a spot on the top-five performers list as well, if he hadn't already been there thanks to his 34.18 second mark back in 2021. His blazing fast time did however earn him a third-place finish in the event.
Top 5's: 6 | Top 3's: 3 | Event Wins: 1
All-Time Top Five Performers:
Men's 1000m: John Davis (2:31.18) | 3rd
Men's 300m: Quinton Godfrey (34.48s) | 4th
Men's Triple Jump: Javon Brown (15.36m) | 4th
Women's 1000m: Sydney Lowe (3:06.70) | 3rd
Women's 1000m: Amaya Hicks (3:09.22) | 5th
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Meet Six: SoCon Indoor Championships | February 24-25, 2024
With 36 top-five finishes and eleven all-time top-five performances to their name, the Catamounts returned to Lexington, Va. for the 2024 Southern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. Imani Boyd claimed the conference crown in the women's high jump and a dominant day two effort by the men's team pushed them to their fifth consecutive second-place finish in the conference. Western Carolina posted their strongest showing of the season in the championship meet, as both teams combined for 28 top-five finishes, with 14 of those being podium placements.
CJ McFerrin and Javon Brown both posted top-five all-time worthy marks in the 60m hurdles, and the triple jump respectively had the two not already been on the lists. Damon Worley's 4,891 points in the heptathlon is the third highest in program history. Armani Blair found herself tied for fifth in the women's 60-meter dash with Tiffany Lewis' 7.58 second time in 2017. Imani Boyd, who had not attempted the indoor high jump at a meet since the 2023 SoCon championships, broke through a log jam of five Catamounts tied at 1.70m with her championship-winning clear of 1.71m.
Top 5's: 28 | Top 3's: 14 | Event Wins: 1
All-Time Top Five Performers:
Heptathlon: Damon Worley (4,891) | 3rd
60m: Armani Blair (7.58s) | T-5th
High Jump: Imani Boyd (1.71m) | 3rd
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Final Count for the 2023-24 Indoor Season:
Top 5's: 64
Top 3's: 28
Event Wins: 6 (One conference champion)
All-Time Top Five Performers 13
The Catamounts now turn their attention to the 2024 outdoor season where the Purple and Gold look to follow up a strong finish to the '23-24 Indoor Season with the Montreat College Open, scheduled for March 22-23.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount track & field and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports) and Twitter (@catamounts, @catamountxctf).
