Montreat Captures First-Ever Women's Indoor Championship

2025 AAC women's indoor track champs
February 11, 2025

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Setting the tone early in the meet, Montreat displayed posed and consistency as it collected the 2025 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship on Tuesday.

The two-day event was held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Montreat tallied 197 points, setting the record for most points by a team. The previous best was 195 by Columbia in 2021. The Cavaliers also set the record for the largest margin of victory as they won by 60 points over second-place Columbia, who held the mark at 33 from its 2018 win.

Milligan placed third with 102 points with Columbia International (72 points) and Brenau (62) rounding out the top five. Tennessee Wesleyan (57), Reinhardt (40), SCAD Atlanta (32), Union (20), Bryan (17), and Pikeville (12) made up the rest of the field.

This is Montreat's first-ever women's indoor championship.

There were three meet records set this year. Dylan Garcia set the mark in the 1000 with a time of 2:51.33, while Ellen-Mary Kearney broke the record in the 600 with a time of 2:16.20. Samantha DeGrace of Tennessee Wesleyan post a meet-best mark of 1.71 meters in the high jump.

Garcia and Kearney were named Co-Track Athletes of the Year.

The other individual award winners were Latrice Brown of Columbia as the Most Outstanding Performer, Kloey Pickens of Columbia International as the Field Athlete of the Year, Heather Murphy of Montreat as the Newcomer of the Year, and DeGrace of Tennessee Wesleyan as the Freshman of the Year. The Montreat coaching staff was named the Staff of the Year.

Here are the rest of the champions from the meet:

  • 60 hurdles - DeGrace (Tennessee Wesleyan), 9:05
  • 60 - Brown (Columbia), 7.92
  • 400 - Brown (Columbia), 1:02.36
  • 5000 - Murphy (Montreat), 16:57.65
  • DMR - Milligan (Ashlyn Haas, Hope Krell, McKenzie Fitzgerald, Kearney), 12:24.25
  • 3000 race walk - Mina Shull (Columbia), 16:59.72
  • 4x400 relay - SCAD Atlanta (Avery Raymond, Tatum Dykstra, Meredith Larkworthy, Gray Pershing), 9:59.29
  • 3000 - Kearney (Milligan), 9:48.47
  • 800 - Garcia (Montreat), 2:16.47
  • 200 - Brown (Columbia), 26.30
  • Mille - Garcia (Montreat), 4:59.01
  • 4x400 relay - Montreat (Kaylene Manternach, Yessenia Castellanos, Adrianna Guillette, Emily Standifer), 4:08.89
  • Pole vault - Emma Pelfrey (Reinhardt), 2.8 meters
  • Long jump - Jessica Gakeri (Montreat), 5.63 meters
  • Triple jump - Mackenzie Pringle (Columbia), 11.90 meters
  • Shot put - Darci Dawson (Columbia), 12.66 meters
  • Weight throw - Pickens (Columbia International), 16.67 meters

For a complete look at the results, click here.