BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- After beginning the indoor season last week the University of Evansville track and field team will be at its final meet of the calendar year on Friday.

The Purple Aces will compete in the Indiana Early Bird meet for the first time on Friday afternoon. UE will compete against 11 other teams in Bloomington including four in-state teams and five Division I teams. The Indiana Early Bird field consists of Butler, Cincinnati, Indiana Kokomo, IU-Indy, Marian, Pikeville, Saint Louis, SE Missouri, St. Francis, St. Norbert, and Wingate competing across 36 events. The first event will begin at 11 a.m. CT with the men's and women's pentathlon.

Evansville will compete in 11 events on Friday starting with the women's weight throw at 2 p.m. CT. The meet takes place at Gladstein Fieldhouse which the Aces last visited in January for the Indiana Invitational during the 2023-24 indoor season. UE has a total of 16 entries in the Indiana Early Bird with 14 track entries and two field entries.

Three Evansville student-athletes set new indoor program records while a variety of athletes earned podium finishes at the Scott Fangman Invitational hosted by the University of Indianapolis on Saturday, Dec. 7th. All three records set on Saturday by UE came on the women's side as junior hurdler Kate Walke (Batesville, Ind. / Oldenburg Academy) and junior thrower Gwen Darrah (Cleveland / Orange HS) reset their 2024 season records. While freshman thrower Emma Bertel (Franklin, Ind. / Franklin Community HS) broke Evansville's 2023 women's shot put record in her first collegiate meet. 

The Aces also had a strong first indoor meet on the track. In the mile race senior Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS) ran a PR 4:21.25 for first place. Also running PRs in the mid-distance and distance events was sophomore Jakub Nowicki (Poznan, Poland) in the mile at 4:24.57, sophomore Tomasso Losma in the 3,000 meter race at 8:51.97, and sophomore Woody Burrell in the 3,000 meter race at 8:53.74. On the women's side sophomore Chase Hayes (Noblesville, Ind. / Western HS) took first in the 800 meter race with a PR of 2:33.44 while sophomore Avery Stephens (Newburg, Ind. / Castle HS) had a PR of 10:45.00 in the 3000-meter race. 

Friday's meet will not be available for streaming. Aces fans can keep up with UE's performance in the Indiana Early Bird through live results.