Tulane Track & Field Begins Season with Big Wins
The Tulane track and field team started the indoor campaign on a high note at the Birmingham Icebreaker Friday, notching a pair of wins and nine top-three results at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Those all contributed to the grand total of 13 top-five results.
The two Green Wave winners were Charlotte Elliston in the women’s pole vault and Zander Dunbar in the men’s 1000m. Dunbar set a meet record with a new personal-best time of 2:28.20. Elliston had a career-best 3.85m in her pole vault win. Both highlighted podiums that featured multiple Tulane athletes as Elliston was joined by Presley Wolfe, who placed third with a 3.70m. Roman Schrader had career-high 2:29.52 in the 1000m to place third behind Dunbar. Sam Cohen was fourth right behind Schrader with his time of 2:29.57, also a career best.
In the women’s 1000m, Eliza Brand posted a 2:56.04 to set a new personal best and finish second. Her mark topped the meet’s previous record. Jasper Newton was third with a 2:56.92, also a career best. Maria Alduan made her collegiate debut with a 3:04.40 in fifth.
In the men’s 60m, Lee Harris set a career best with a 6.89 in the prelims before beating that mark with a 6.83 to place fourth. Morgan Matthews was third in the women’s 3000m with a 10:29.30. in the women’s weight throw, Cara Salsberry secured a third-place result with a mark of 17.19m. The Wave women placed fifth in the 4x400 relay as the team of Marissa Gordon, Nahema Dumonteil Cabanas, Ava Pittiglio, and Bella Carroll tallied a time of 3:56.00.
Other personal bests set include Andrew Bamberg (35.88) and Alexander Montoro (35.91) in the men’s 300m. In the men’s 400m, Jalen St. Fort (52.87), Schrader (53.45), and Cohen (54.17) all set new personal marks. St. Fort added a personal best in the 1000m with a time of 2:30.89. In the 200m, Jay Bowles had a new personal best on the men’s side with a 24.23. On the women’s end, Carroll (25.59) and Bryanna Fears (27.54) had new personal bests.
After a strong start to the campaign, the Wave will get just over a month off before returning to action in January of 2026. Next up is the Rod McCravey Invite in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 9 and 10.
Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.