Lynchburg, Va. – The Western Carolina track and field team wrapped up a strong final meet heading into championship season, picking up a trio of event wins and 11 top-five placements at the 12th Annual Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational, hosted by Liberty University.
Additionally, four Catamounts climbed up the all-time top five performance list across five different events, with Bradley White moving to second all-time in the 800m and fifth in the mile.
White led the Catamounts over the two days of competition, taking fourth place in the 800m invite with a 1:51.6 finish on Friday in the event. The freshman closed out his weekend with an individual win in the Open Mile, clocking 4:10.99.
Katherine Hopkins led the women's team, securing an event win in the 3,000m Open. She was the only student-athlete to finish sub-10:00 in the open portion of the event, securing the win and third place on the all-time top five list with her 9:53.73. Additionally, her 5:04.76 time in the Mile Open took second place, with the junior also setting a PR.
Amaya Hicks and Ashlyn Watkins rounded out a strong performance by the Catamount distance teams, as their respective 3:04.77 and 3:05.42 finishes in the 1,000m are third and fourth on the all-time performance list, respectively.
Daniel Coronell led a trio of high-finishing Catamounts in the High-Jump Open, taking the event win and clearing the 2.00m plateau in the process with a 2.01m mark. Josh Flack and Noah Brannon finished third and fourth in the high jump, respectively, both clearing 1.96m.
Coronell also had the top finish by the Catamounts in the horizontal jumps, taking second in the Long Jump Open with a 6.87m leap. Celia Gully took fourth in the women's Triple Jump Open with a mark of 11.15m.
Up Next for The Catamounts:
The Catamounts have the week away from competition but return to Virginia on Feb. 27-28 for the 2026 Southern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships. The two-day conference championship meet will take place in Lexington, Va., at VMI's on-campus Corps Physical Training Facility, with portions of day two to be streamed on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).
