The Grand Canyon University track and field teams began their 2026 indoor season with strong performances at the Friday Night Axe ‘Em Open, hosted by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
GCU head coach Tom Flood expressed satisfaction with the team’s efforts. “Overall, I am very pleased with our performances,” Flood said. “We definitely busted off some rust in our first meet of the new year.
“This event was a great test for the Lopes and gave them the ability to try some new things out. We still held out several athletes this week and ran a lot in odd events this early in the season.”
Despite not competing with a full roster, GCU continued its trend of breaking school records. Junior transfer Eva Lowder surpassed her own previous mark in the pole vault, clearing 4.27 meters to win the event. This performance also ranks as the fifth-highest vault in Mountain West history.
Senior Taliyah Booker won the women’s 400-meter run with a time of 54.34 seconds, which is currently sixth-best nationally and second-best within the Mountain West conference.
In men’s sprints, Jacob Holguin opened his season by running a personal best of 6.67 seconds in the 60-meter dash, placing him 13th among Division I athletes.
For distance events, junior Tristen Coyle and sophomore Jack Sindt finished first and second respectively in the men’s mile run, both setting personal records with times of 4:21.59 and 4:25.20.
Flood noted that health was another positive outcome from the meet. “Best thing is we came out completely healthy after the meet was completed.” He added, “We will get back to work again on Monday and look to get even better again next Friday at NAU.”
The Lopes are scheduled to return to Flagstaff next Friday for the Lumberjack Team Challenge.
