The Emory University Track and Field Team opened its 2014-15 indoor campaign with a number of strong performances on Friday, including 13 top marks from freshmen competitors, at the Panther Indoor Icebreaker, hosted by Birmingham-Southern College at the Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Emory women claimed a team victory at the meet, totaling 86 points to finish first in the team standings, while the Emory men finished in fifth place with 76.5 points.  Division I teams were score separately from non-Division I teams at the meet.

For the men, freshman Phillip Greenfield was Emory's top performer in a pair of events, finishing 13^th in the 200-meter dash (23.36 seconds) and seventh in the 60-meter dash (7.16 seconds).  Freshman Charlie Hu added a pair of top finishes by an Eagle in the horizontal jump, taking home third in the triple jump (12.80 meters) and fifth in the long jump (6.04 meters).  Other freshmen with top performances for the Emory men included Benjamin Rogin in the 60-meter hurdles (8.63 seconds), Max Brown in the mile run (4:24.50), Zach Lamb in the 400-meter dash (52.86 seconds), and Charles King in the 800-meter run (1:59.02).

A pair of veterans recorded second-place finishes in the throwing events, with senior James Bassen notching a mark of 13.69 meters in the weight throw, and junior Jacob Seigel recording a distance of 12.28 meters in the shot put.  In the pole vault, it was junior Spencer Koh who led the Eagles with a career-best height of 4.10 meters, good for a second-place finish, while sophomore Jake Schlessinger claimed third in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:08.45 and junior Dametris Osbourne finished fifth in the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.70 meters.

The Emory men capped off the meet with a pair of runner-up finishes in relays, with the distance medley relay team finishing in a time of 10:56.79, and the 4x400-meter relay with a mark of 3:27.56.

Four more freshmen from the Emory women's squad were top performers for the Eagles on Friday.  In running events, Erica Goldman claimed sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.98 seconds, while Caitlin Cheeseboro was third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.77 seconds.  Freshman Valerie Linck added an eighth-place finish in the high jump, notching a height of 1.40 meters.  In the throws, it was Zoe Fowler claiming fourth in the weight throw with a toss of 11.56 meters, while Kora Dreffs finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 10.21 meters.

The lone individual first-place finisher for the women on Friday was senior Elaina Kim, who won the non-Division I portion of the pole vault with a height of 3.20 meters.  Senior Electra Korn was Emory's top finisher in both the 60-meter dash (third place, 7.96 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (second place, 25.58 seconds), while junior Julie Williamson claimed second in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:18.43.  Other Emory veterans with top finishes included sophomore Kelsey Abbott in the 3,000-meter run (11:15.46), sophomore Mackenzie Levy in the mile run (5:23.40), and junior Alexandra Aiello in the triple jump (10.16 meters).

Wrapping up the meet, Emory's women's 4x400-meter relay team finished first among non-Division I teams with a time of 4:09.30.

The Eagles will now be off from competition for the remainder of the fall semester.  Emory will return to action on Saturday, January 10^th, 2015, at the Orange and Purple Classic, hosted by Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.