ATLANTA - The Columbus State University track and field teams had a solid first day at Emory University's annual Spring Break Classic, hosted by Morehouse University. The day came with a lot of rain, some personal bests, season bests, and two school records being broken.

At the end of competition on day one, the Cougars men's track team is currently sitting in 5th place out of 15 teams. The Lady Cougars are currently in 16th place. Day two of competition begins Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with the women's 10,000m race; field events will start at 10 a.m.

Freshman Liza Varnum was the highlight of the Lady Cougars' day. She finished 8th in the 400m hurdles and broke the school record with a time of 1:07.50.

On the men's side, Justin Love placed 3rd in the Hammer with a throw of 45.18m (148'3"). Teammate and current school record holder Afolabi Olatunde placed 7th with a throw of 42.06m (138'0"). In the shot-put, Tyler Southern finished in 6th place with a distance of 14.10m (46'3.25"). Freshman Raylene Magby finished in 7th place with a mark of 13.74 (45'1").

On the track, Dante Walls was out leaned at the line, placing 2nd in the 400m hurdles. Walls ran a time of 53.39s, breaking his previous school record. Mark Ravenscraft placed 6th in the 400m hurdles, stopping the clock at 55.29.

Junior Blake Lewis fought his way to a 4th place finish in the 1500m invitational with a time of 3:57.86. The 1500m invitational was only open to the top-26 runners, with the best 1500m times ran this season.

In the 3000m steeple, Elijah Sires returned after suffering an injury in the 3000m steeple at the 2023 PBC Outdoor Championships. Sires finished in 9th place with a time of 11:08.54. Freshman Zane Bell had a strong showing in the event, crossing the line in 11th place at 11:38.30.