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University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Big South Conference vs Southern Conference Challenge
Track and Field to Host Big South vs. Southern Conference Challenge to Open Outdoor Season
03.19.2026 | Track and Field
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville track and field team will open the 2026 outdoor season this Friday and Saturday (March 20–21) by hosting the Big South Conference vs. Southern Conference Challenge.
In a break from the traditional meet format, the Challenge will be scored, with Asheville competing alongside Gardner-Webb, Radford, and Winthrop (Big South) against VMI, Western Carolina, and Wofford (Southern Conference) to determine an overall conference champion.
Friday's field events will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the women's hammer throw, while track events are set to start at 6:30 p.m. with the women's 5,000m. Results for all events will be available here.
The meet will be broadcast on ESPN+ beginning Saturday at 1:00 p.m. To watch the livestream, click here. For the full schedule, click here.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs transition to outdoor season after wrapping up the 2026 indoor campaign at the Big South Championships (Feb. 27–28). The men's team placed fourth with 63 points, while the women's team finished fifth with 35 points. Four individual Bulldogs, along with both distance medley relay squads, earned podium finishes to represent Asheville.
Aneta Kucerová delivered three standout performances—totaling 21 points—to earn the program's first Big South Freshman of the Year honor on the women's side since 2007. She reset the school record in the women's mile with a time of 4:56.12, placing fourth overall, and later secured a podium finish in the women's 3,000m, taking third in 9:57.72.
Kucerová also played a key role in the record-breaking women's distance medley relay team, which captured gold on day one with a time of 11:59.05—marking the first sub-12-minute performance in program history. Joined by Zoe Bos, Isabel Richardson, and Nikole Baikova, the quartet's time ranks fifth all-time in Big South history.
The men's distance medley relay team of Tadiyos Sloan-Westmoreland, Jalice Payton, Jaheem O'Hara, and Jan Málek also set a new school record, clocking 10:03.98 to earn silver and move to No. 6 all-time in Big South history.
Nkosi Jeju claimed silver in the men's long jump, matching both his personal best and the program record with a leap of 7.40 meters.
Shemarr Session added another silver medal in the men's 60m hurdles, finishing just 0.01 seconds shy of first place with a personal-best time of 8.03.
Bennett Moreno earned bronze in the men's 800m with a personal-best 1:53.46, moving to No. 3 on Asheville's all-time list.
Stephen Pryor rounded out the standout performances by rewriting the program record in the men's heptathlon. He placed fifth overall with 4,640 points—surpassing the previous school record by 159 points. Pryor's performance included a second-place finish in the 60m hurdles and third-place finishes in both the high jump and 60m dash.
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Players Mentioned
