The Lake Forest College track and field team began its 2025 outdoor season at North Central College's First Chance Invitational on Saturday.

The Foresters' best performance came in the men's 800m, where sophomore Ollie Francis placed third and senior Bart Brophy sixth out of 72 runners. Francis finished in 1:55.64, just .18 seconds off the school record set by Brophy last May, while Brophy completed his two laps around the track in 1:57.91.

Lake Forest also had a third-place finish in the shot put with sophomore Michael Kasemervisz covering 14.72m (48'3.5") on his second attempt.

Five program records were broken or tied in five different events, beginning with the men's 4x100m relay. Sophomore Shuntaro Nakamura, senior Trentyn Tyson, sophomore Payton Ross, and junior Mason Wright transported the baton around the track in just 43.87 seconds.

Ross also matched his own school record in the 110m high hurdles in 16.00 seconds and Wright set a new mark in the 200m, clocking a time of 22.72. He was actually the second Lake Forest runner in team history to break 23 seconds after freshman Alex Pavlov finished in 22.91 seconds just a few heats earlier.

Freshman Zahra Tait turned in a distance of 4.55m (14'11.25") in the long jump for the longest leap by a Forester woman. Fellow freshman Stella Abernathy (4.20m) and sophomore Inessa Kaufman (4.18) also out-jumped the previous record of 4.17m.

The Lake Forest men made it 2-for-2 on school record relays when freshman Alex Pavlov, Brophy, Francis, and senior Matthew Lungu finished in 3:29.63.

Additional highlights for the Forester women included a ninth-place finish and time of 12.72 for junior AJ Jones in the 100m and the second-fastest 4x100m relay in school history. Freshmen Andrea Fernandez and Farah Tawfik were followed by Tait and junior One Kenosi in just 52.85 seconds. Tawfik also put her name on the program's top-five list in the 400m (1:07.67) and 200m (28.93).

Lake Forest will travel to Elmhurst College next weekend for the Chicagoland Championships. Friday evening's competition will begin at 5:00 and Saturday's events will start at 11:00 a.m.