Lynchburg, Va. – Western Carolina track & field saw a school record fall on Saturday at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational as competition wrapped up day two of the weekend meet with several Top Five all-time performance entries.
Additionally, the Catamounts picked up a top three finish and a handful of top 10 finishes for their efforts in their final tune-up before the 2025 Southern Conference Indoor Championships at the end of the month (Feb. 28 – Mar. 1).
John Davis led the charge for the Catamounts with an incredible 2:27.56 third-place finish in the men's 1,000-meter race, the fastest mark for a Catamount in the event in school history. Davis' finish is the first sub 2:28 mark for the Catamounts and beat his own personal best performance in the event by over three seconds. His previous best mark of 2:31.18s stood third in the all-time performance list since his appearance at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational last season. Davis is one of three Catamounts to post a sub 2:32 finish since 1987 and leapfrogs his teammate Henry Stecher and former Catamount Jalen Elwell on the top five list.
Freshman runner Trevor Williams made a name for himself in the same event, as his 2:32.75 finish stands as the fourth-best in school history. The freshman's appearance in the event over the weekend was his first collegiate 1K and pushed James Montague's 2:32.84 finish in 1987 to fifth all-time.
The Catamount women's runners saw some shuffling in their all-time top five as well as Grace Lane and Leah Butler broke through in the women's 1,000m and the 300m, respectively. Lane's 3:05.63 finish in the event was also her first collegiate mark in the 1,000m and is the third-best in school history, bumping Sydney Lowe and Madelynn Duffield down a spot on the list.
Butler is now fifth on the women's 300m performance charts after clocking 40.94s finish. She is the first entry into the top five for the 300m since Nytrinitey Jenkins's fourth place 40.76s mark and Mekyll Robinson's school record time of 39.70s, both of which came during the 2022 season.
Up Next for The Catamounts:
WCU turns its attention back at home to practice and prepare before taking on the 2025 Southern Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 28-March 1. The conference championship meet will take place in Lexington, Va. at VMI's Corps Physical Training Facility.
