ST. LOUIS—Junior Ellie Hall made a strong showing in her season debut Friday as University of Southern Indiana Women's Track & Field opened the 2026 outdoor season with a pair of meets in St. Louis.
 
Hall finished sixth in the 5,000 meters at the WashU Distance Carnival with a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 35.35 seconds. Her mark ranks sixth all-time at USI and was a little more than 30 seconds away from Emily Roberts' all-time mark of 16:05.28, which was set in 2016.
 
Including Hall, the Screaming Eagles had three personal-bests at the WashU Distance Carnival, with sophomore Abrielle Richard racing to a PR of 4:35.58 with her 14th-place finish in the 1,500 meters. Sophomore Cordelia Hoover also scored a PR in the 5,000 meters with her time of 17:48.78.
 
USI also competed at the SLU Speed/Power Festival Friday, where the Screaming Eagles carded an 11th-place finish with 12 team points.
 
Sophomore Addison Applegate and freshman Vanessa Teel accounted for nine of those 12 points. Applegate raced to a fourth-place finish in the 1,500 meters, while Teel was fifth in the 800 meters.
 
USI got three more points out of the 200 meters, where sophomore Lauryn Speicher raced to a sixth-place finish and a time of 26.68 seconds. Her time moves her into seventh-place all-time at USI in the outdoor 200 meters.
 
The Screaming Eagles are slated to compete April 3-4 at the Pacesetter Sports Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana.