BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A small contingent of Vikings from the men's and women's track and field teams opened up the 2025-26 indoor season Friday at the Birmingham Icebreaker Indoor in Alabama.  The meet featured over 30 colleges across all divisions including Division 1 Memphis, Samford, UAB, and Tulane as well as SAA foes Rhodes, Trinity, and Oglethorpe.

Eight new all-time indoor top-10 times or marks were achieved by the nine women competing while the men accounted for four, mostly by freshman.

"I'm happy with the way we were able to start the season" remarked Coach Syverson. "Since this meet falls on the last day of classes, we are pretty selective with who goes and is ready to compete.  It is a valuable way for some of our freshman to gain some experience and get the 'first meet jitters' out of the way.  And it gives us as coaches some feedback as to where we are at going into the Christmas break."

Seniors Ethan Smith and Anna Ayers were the top placers on the day finishing 3^rd and 2^nd overall in the Men's and Women's Mile races.  Ayers' started off her senior season with a time of 5:20.04 which was a new lifetime PR.
Senior outdoor All-American, Macy Murdock, jumped to a new lifetime PR in the High Jump and ran a new indoor PR in the 200m.  However, it was mostly the freshman who added their names to the all-time lists with Andrew Popp and Laney Ray finishing 10^th and 14^th respectively in the Men's and Women's Pole Vault, Braylon Kirkpatrick in both the 60m and 200m, Reese Beckner in the Women's 60H, and Bryce Toomer and Maddie Denney leading the way in the Shot Put and Weight Throw. 

The Vikings will take the next six weeks off from competition for the holiday break, returning in 2026 to the Crossplex Indoor facility again on January 15-17^th for a meet against Samford University.