WASHINGTON – For the American University track team, this weekend will be the start of the indoor season. The Eagles will compete in Boston, Pennsylvania, and Virginia this season as they prepare for the Patriot League Championships and the NCAA Championships.

A small group will start their track seasons at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener (Dec. 6) at Boston University. After the holidays, the full team will open up at the Nittany Lion Challenge (Jan. 17) hosted by Penn State. The squad will stay close to home in late January for the Patriot Games (Jan. 30-31) at George Mason.

Before the postseason, the team will split between the Boston University Valentine Invitational and the Liberty University Darius Dixon Invitational (Feb. 13-14). The group will take one more trip to George Mason for their Last Chance Meet (Feb. 20) before the conference championships.

A week later, the Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Boston University on Saturday, Feb. 28-Sunday, Mar. 1. For those who qualify, the NCAA Championships will be hosted by the University of Arkansas on Mar. 13-14.

The distance squad is coming off a historic cross country season. The men's cross country team had their highest Patriot League Championship finish in 12 years, placing third. Senior Kaden Kluth placed fifth, the highest individual finish by an Eagle in 13 years, earning First Team All-Patriot League honors. On the women's side, freshman Shealyn Brochu came away with a 14th-place Patriot League finish for Second Team All-Patriot League honor. She was also named PL Rookie of the Year after being the top freshman in the race. Earlier in the season, the team saw success on the PL course at the Paul Short Invitational (Sep. 12), with the men coming second, led by Kluth's fourth-place performance, and the women finishing ninth, led by Brochu in sixth. Several Eagles came away from the season with new personal bests.

The track team welcomes five freshmen competing on the sprints side this season. On the men's side, the Eagles are welcoming Gregory Celariste, James Soergel, and Alex Zenit. The women's sprints welcome Maren Holecek and Lilia Jones.

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