PHX Reporter

Grand Canyon University's track and field team participated in its first meet of 2025 at the Friday Night Axe 'Em Open, held at Northern Arizona's Walkup Skydome. For most of the athletes, it marked their season debut, while others returned to competition after a month-long break.

"Overall I am very pleased with our performances today," stated Lopes head coach Tom Flood. "We definitely busted off some rust in our first meet of the new year."

The team brought over 90 athletes to compete in Flagstaff, the first of four meets scheduled there. Senior hurdler Cam Wilmington, a transfer from Kansas, performed well with a time of 7.90 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and 33.88 seconds in the 300 meters.

Senior sprinter Aaliyah Rifort-Delem also impressed with her times of 7.44 seconds in the 60 meters and 39.26 seconds in the 300 meters. "I thought that Cam Wilmington had a good opener in both the 60 meter hurdles and 300 meters," Flood commented. "I also thought that Aaliyah Rifort-Delem had a nice double in the 60 meter dash with a conference-leading time and in the 300 meters."

Sophomore Megan Williams and senior Misael Colon stood out among jumpers. Williams cleared 1.67 meters in the high jump, while Colon succeeded on his third attempt at clearing five meters in the pole vault. "Megan Williams had a great opening meet in the high jump," noted Flood. "It was also really nice to finally see Misael Colon clear the five-meter mark in the pole vault."

Several Lopes athletes won events, including sweeps by both men's and women's teams in various categories such as the 800m (freshman Rayan Belkheir, graduate Niki Hemmerlin), high jump (sophomore Osita Gift Agbo), and long jump (senior Justice Fair, junior Maliyah Ross).

The GCU team will return to Flagstaff for further competition at the Lumberjack Team Challenge next Friday.

"We will get back to work again on Monday and look to get even better next at NAU," said Flood.