Six Blackburn men traveled to Greenville University on Saturday, April 29, to compete in the SLIAC Outdoor Track Championships and complete the inaugural Blackburn track season in the SLIAC era.

Hayden Fox was the only individual Blackburn male athlete to make it on the scoreboard, taking fifth and setting a PR in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.47 in only his second time to ever compete in the event. Other PRs on the day came from Locke Hord in the 800 meters (2:12.35) and Will Teig in the 200 meters (25.12). In addition, Tate Kunzeman concluded a strong freshman season with a 24.41 in the 200 meters, and Marco Nova ran 1:06.59 in the 400 meters.

The men’s 4 x 400 relay team also scored for the Beavers, taking fifth place among the eight SLIAC schools with a 3:42.37, which was punctuated with a thrilling anchor leg from Izayah Talmage who ran a 52.62 split in only his second college race.

Coach Al Sturgeon said, “It feels good to get a season under our belts and have Blackburn back on the track in the SLIAC era. Thirty years was far too long to see this happen! Although we are the smallest school in our conference, the potential is there to make something happen. I feel like we have teed up the cross country and track programs so that someone can help take things to the next level.”