BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.— Montreat College's women's track & field team started the year off with an indoor meet, but it was held outside. The winter air was melted by the Cavaliers' red-hot performance at Pulliam Stadium on Thursday. Three additional teams joined the Cavs at the Montreat College Track & Field Exams: the University of the Cumberlands, Milligan University and Bryan College.
 
The Cavaliers had 23 entries across nine events. They won six of them and found nine personal bests along the way. Montreat had three event debuts in the meet. The Cavs collected a school record and an NAIA 'A' standard as well.
 
Emma Barnes broke her own school record in the shot put by more than a meter. Her previous best, set last year, was a throw of 11.16m. Her mark today was 12.21m. In her six total attempts in the discipline, all but one throw would have beaten that old record. With the effort, she claimed first in the shot put out of six entries. She was joined by three other Montreat teammates. Shelby Brown placed third with a personal-best throw of 9.45m. Isis Rain Giron finished fourth after her mark of 9.43m. Izzi Ackerman completed the event in fifth. She also notched a career-best with a toss of 9.19m, an improvement of over a full meter.
 
In the 5000m race, Heather Murphy stole the show. She finished first and surpassed the NAIA 'A' standard with a time of 16:52.34. Carlyn Bobo beat her previous-best time by less than a second and finished fourth in the event after clocking an 18:27.64.
 
The Cavaliers crushed the 600m race, taking the top four spots. In her event debut, newcomer Peyton Stasko placed first with a 1:44.89. Behind her, Anna Baugh set a new best time with a 1:45.32 and finished second. Natalia Nieto and Jasmine Hernandez ended third and fourth, respectively. Nieto had a 1:45.85 while Hernandez finished in 1:47.75.
 
The hosts of the meet also won the 1000m race. Macy Parks crossed the finish line first with a time of 3:02.92. Her effort was good enough for a new career-best. In their event debuts, Eliza Nelson and Naomi Smith placed 10^th and 12^th, respectively.
 
Lydia Norman and Barnes placed first and second in the long jump. Norman's bound of 4.89m beat out Barnes's jump of 4.65m. They were the only two athletes to compete in the event.
 
Barnes also won the high jump and was the only athlete in the competition. Her leap of 1.35m ultimately won the event.
 
Both Ackerman and Giron curated new career-bests in the weight throw. Ackerman placed second with a launch of 11.63m, while Giron finished fifth after a heave of 10.63m. In between the pair, Brown placed fourth with a catapult of 10.89m.
 
Ragan Speer placed third in the mile out of four total runners. She attained a new personal-best time of 5:48.76.
 
To see the full results from the Montreat College Track & Field Exams, click here.
 
The next competition on the slate for the Cavs is the Visit Winston-Salem College Kick-off on Saturday, Dec. 6. The meet will be hosted at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.