GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Ave Maria Track & Field team only took a limited roster to their first few meets in 2025, but the Gyrenes finally got the whole gang together January 23-24 for the Alachua County Sports and Event Center Invitational. The Gyrenes put together a strong showing over the weekend, with seven Top-10 finishes in a meet that featured many NCAA Division I programs.

The highlight of the meet was Caitlyn O'Brien picking up right where she left off in the 2024-25 season. In her first meet of the year, O'Brien took home three Top-10 finishes, including a first place finish. The senior from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, placed fifth in the 60 hurdles with a time 8.88 and sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.60 meters. The first place finish came in the Pentathlon. O'Brien won three of the five events and placed second in another to compile a score of 3429. It is the highest score of her career was almost 80 points higher than the second place finisher from Division I North Florida.

The Gyrene women had two other Top-10 finishers in the meet, with Molly From finishing seventh in the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters and Claudia Wojciechowski placing eighth in the 1000 meters with a time of 3:26.47.

On the men's side, the Gyrenes had two Top-10 finishes in the same event. Donavan Mattson and David Giles both finished in the Top 10 in the 3000 meters. Mattson placed a little higher at seventh with a time of 8:43.66 while Giles was right behind him in ninth place with a time of 8:57.70.

The Gyrenes will take a weekend off before going back up to Gainesville February 6 to compete in the Visit Gainesville Indoor Classic. The Classic will be the final meet of the regular season before the Sun Conference Indoor Championships.