Cullowhee, N.C. – The Western Carolina track and field teams put on a show on day one of the annual Catamount Classic, presented by the Everson. The Catamounts collected four event wins, headlined by an outstanding effort by Ethan Long in the men's 200m and an incredible finish in the final l00m of the 5K by Katherine Hopkins. Additionally, WCU swept the javelin throw with Jackson Livingston taking the win on the men's side and Ericka Jackson securing a victory for the Catamount women.
 
Combined, the Catamounts recorded 13 top-five finishes on the day, with nine additional WCU student-athletes securing spots in the finals for the men's and women's 100m and the corresponding 100 and 110m hurdle events.
 
Day two action of the 2025 Catamount Classic, presented by The Everson, at the on-campus Catamount Athletics Complex, resumes just after 11 a.m. on Saturday. Admission to the track meet is free. Live scoring of the meet is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.
 
Freshman Ethan Long again led the Catamount effort on the day in a highly competitive heat of the 200m, battling for the top finish in the event with a blistering 20.83s finish. Long was the only entrant with a sub-21.00s finish. Long's time now stands as the 58th-best in NCAA Division I and the 49th-best in the NCAA East region.
 
A product of Lakeside Park, Ky., Long now owns the third-best event time in school history, behind only United States Olympian Manteo Mitchell's record time of 20.73s and a 20.82s by Benny Davis. Long also took first in the prelims of the 100m dash with a 10.50s sprint.  
 
Sophomore Katherine Hopkins had an equally thrilling finish in the 5,000m, securing her second consecutive win in the event after a first-place finish at the Asheville Bulldog Invitational. Hopkins and teammate Peyton Skoglund commanded a strong lead and set the pace through the first 3,800m, before ETSU's Deena Ludtke pushed close behind, eventually surging to the lead in the second-to-last lap.
 
Hopkins pushed through traffic late, though, and swarmed Ludtke on the backstretch to take the lead and used a late kick to create space in the final sprint to earn the win and set a new personal record (PR) with a 17:36.94 finish. Skoglund hung on for a third-place showing, setting a new PR by nearly 40 seconds as she battled to a time of 17:59.14, the first sub-18:00 time of her career.  
 
In the field events, Jackson Livingston and Ericka Jackson were head and shoulders above the field, moving to the top of the leaderboard on their first throws and never relinquishing the lead in their respective javelin competitions. Livingston was the only student-athlete in the men's field with a throw over 55 meters, taking first place after his first attempt landed 56.04m down range. Jackson was the only one in the women's event with a mark above 40m, setting a new PR with her second attempt of 44.39m.  
 
On the track, the Catamount women secured two spots in Saturday's 100m finals as Cymoria Thomas (11.92) and Armani Blair (11.97) were second and third in Friday's prelims, with Shaneil Lysight (2nd, 14.15) and Imani Boyd (4th, 14.26) among the top times in the women's 100-meter hurdles. For the men's team, Long is the lone finalist in the 100m, while WCU has four vying for the top spot in the 110m hurdles, including second-place C.J. McFerrin (14.26), third-place Christian Roberts (14.55), Kamdyn Swartz (15.13) in sixth, and Jaylen Morrow (15.19) in seventh on Friday.
 
The Catamounts will be back in action on Saturday morning as they honor their 16 seniors at 11:15 a.m. Events are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., with the women's discus, women's high jump, men's shot put, and men's triple jump. Track events open with the women's 4x100m relay at 12:10 p.m. and culminate at 3:50 p.m. with the 4x400m relays.