The Emory University track & field teams returned to competition Sunday afternoon, putting forth strong showings at the Panther Invitational at Clark Atlanta University.

The Emory men’s team finished first among five teams that scored at the meet, totaling 167 total team points. For the women, the Eagles placed second among eight scoring squads with 141 points, just three points behind the top team for the afternoon, UT-Chattanooga.

On the women’s side, Laura Sheckter broke the school record in the shot put as she was one of six Eagles to claim event wins on the afternoon. Sheckter established a new school top mark in the shot put as she posted a mark of 12.84m, besting the previous school record of 12.76m which had held since 1984.

Adding event wins for the women were Annika Urban who posted the second fastest time ever in the 3000m Run at 10:06.68, Rebekah Bondi in the 100m Dash (12.35), Claire Evans in both the 100m Hurdles (16.25) and 400m Hurdles (1:09.50) and Ticia King in the pole vault (3.04m).

For the men, the Eagles had six event winners led by Jacob Hedgepeth who recorded the second fastest time ever in the 3000m Run with his time of 8:39.79. In addition, Spencer Watry placed first in the 800m Run (1:56.39), Thomas Perretta in the 1500m Run (4:09.21), Brent Henshey in the high jump (1.95m), Patrick Osborne in the pole vault (4.27m) and Chris Jernigan in the javelin (48.48m).

For full results of the Eagles’ first meet of the 2021 season, please click here.

The track & field teams will return to action next Friday, March 26th with the Hilltop Classic, hosted by Birmingham-Southern College.