Golden Eagles open outdoor campaign at WashU Distance Carnival, UAB Spring Invite
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech outdoor track and field team will kick off the 2025 campaign with a pair of events, with the distance runners off to St. Louis, Mo. and the WashU Distance Carnival on Thursday and Friday. The remainder of the Golden Eagle squad will head south to Birmingham for the UAB Spring Invite on Friday and Saturday.
WashU Distance Carnival Schedule of Events
UAB Spring Invite Schedule of Events
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech outdoor track and field team will kick off the 2025 campaign with a pair of events, with the distance runners off to St. Louis, Mo. and the WashU Distance Carnival on Thursday and Friday. The remainder of the Golden Eagle squad will head south to Birmingham for the UAB Spring Invite on Friday and Saturday.
WashU Distance Carnival Information
Mar. 27-28, 2025 – Located at Francis Olympic Field in St. Louis, Mo., Thursday's action will kick off at 5:15 p.m. CT while Friday will open at 10:45 a.m.
UAB Spring Invite Information
Mar. 28-29, 2025 – Located at the UAB Track and Field Facility in Birmingham, Ala., Friday's action will kick off with field events at 1:00 p.m. CT and running events at 5:00 p.m. Saturday will open with both field and running events at 9:00 a.m.
What to Watch For
The youth of the Golden Eagle roster showed glimpses of the bright future of the program at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the end of February, helping the purple and gold finish sixth overall.
Helping highlight Tech's efforts, sophomore Naomy Lokiles claimed a spot on the podium with a third-place showing in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:58.07. She also earned five more points in the 5,000-meter run, leading a scoring trio of Golden Eagles with a fourth-place finish of 17:30.99.
Rookie Rylee Wells picked up three points in the 3K, crossing the finish line at 10:07.75 to place sixth. Wells finished fourth in the mile run with a mark of 5:01.78. Sophomore Makaleigh Jessee finished seventh in the 5K with a time of 17:42.03 for a new personal record, while sophomore Savanna Amos placed eighth with a new PR of 17:47.03.
Junior Paris Bowles rounded out the individual runners to score for the purple and gold, finishing seventh in the 800-meter behind a time of 2:20.95.
On the field side of things, five Golden Eagles showed off their skills to claim more valuable points for the program, led by freshman Tyla Street. The rookie picked up a fifth-place performance in the triple jump, landing a PR of 11.80 meters (38'8.75").
Sophomore Carolina Bannach cleared 3.65 meters (11'11.75") in the pole vault, while fellow sophomore Madison Johnson tied for sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.65 meters (5'5"). One more sophomore, Ally Beneke, tied for eighth while clearing 1.60 meters (5'3").
Landing a new personal record with a leap of 5.59 meters (18'4.25") in the long jump was yet another sophomore, Mattie Bush. Teaming up to produce another podium finish for the purple and gold were a trio of freshmen and Bowles, representing Tech in the 4x400-meter relay. Rookies Rachael Brewer, Hannah Little, and Aliyah Kennedy led off the third-place performance while Bowles anchored things for six huge points and a time of 3:51.09.
The Golden Eagle distance medley relay squad also gathered points for the effort, finishing seventh overall. Junior Lauryn Jackson, Bowles, sophomore Hayley Stegall, and rookie Hannah Faudi combined to clock in at 12:35.45.
Up Next
The Golden Eagles head to Knoxville for the Tennessee Invite, competing on Friday, Arp. 4 and Saturday, Apr. 5.
Photo by Reily Rogers
