ATLANTA, Ga. -- The Kenyon College women's track and field team opened its outdoor season on Friday afternoon as the Owls flocked south to participate in Emory University's Spring Break Classic. Two familiar faces whipped up the best individual finishes for the Owls, while Kenyon's young talent also got in on the action in the first of two days at the unscored meet.

Paula Soric secured the day's best individual finish, doing so in her signature event, the triple jump. The senior placed third in a field of 29, with her longest landing measuring 11.51 meters (37-9 ¼). The only two athletes above Soric in the standings were an unattached competitor and an NCAA Division II student-athlete.

Anna Brown had Kenyon's best result in running events, placing fourth in the 24-runner 1,500-meter race. The junior crossed the finish line at 4:45.63, just a little over five seconds behind the winning time. The mark also shattered Brown's personal best in the event, shaving over seven seconds off her previous best time of 4:53.00.

In other running events, senior Ellianne Retzlaff and first-year Lucie Prior participated in a pair of distance races while first-years Addilyn Tober, Noa Helmbrecht, and Ariella Sobel led the way for the Owls in the shorter events. 

The distance results both came in the 5,000-meter race, which was split into an "open" field and an "invitational" field. In the open, Retzlaff placed ninth and clocked in at 20:00.03. In the invitational, Prior placed 20th at 19:43.73. Both Helmbrecht and Sobel ran in the 200-meter dash, and the duo finished close together in the 121-runner standings that also included Bella Roach, Alina Secrest, Sadie Olson, and Grace Sparks. Helmbrecht clocked in at 26.72, good for 49th, just 0.2 seconds faster than Sobel (26.92) in 56th. Tober represented Kenyon in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing 23rd out of 47 competitors with a time of 1:11.50.

Penelope Artemis, another first-year, paced the Owls in the other field event in which Kenyon competed, the hammer throw. Artemis's best toss landed 31.83 meters (104-5) out, good for 45th out of 57 throwers. Senior Jolien Kusi placed 55th with a career-best mark of 26.90 meters (88-3).

After a handful of day-one events throughout the evening, the Owls get right back at it in the morning when the final day of the meet kicks off at 9:15 a.m.