COLUMBIA, S.C. – Charleston Southern Men's Track and Field competed in their first meet of 2025 on Saturday on the campus of South Carolina. Michael Calhoun led a strong showing by the team's throwers as he broke his school record in the shotput and had many of the squad's distance runners also help rewrite the school record books.
 
One of the great moments of the day for the Bucs came in the 400m as Talon Rowland made his CSU debut. He had a time of 49.13 and placed himself at 10^th all-time in school history. Another sprinter to see time on the day was Luciano Custodio who had a 1:20.48 in the 600m.
 
Another Buccaneer to make his debut was Collin Kleinhen who had a time of 1:54.68 for 4^th overall in the race and 8^th in the CSU record books for the event. Zack Wedding also raced in and took 8^th with his time breaking the two-minute barrier as well.
 
Charleston Southern put three runners in the 1K with each of them taking a top-seven finish. Kaden Kleinhen won the event and was thousandths of a second away from the school record time. He had a 2:31.68 to come in at second in school history for the distance. Zaiden Lane and Zech Prater also had great races, taking 5^th and 7^th in the field with times of 2:35.16 and 2:38.24. Lane's time in 4^th in the school records while Prater's comes in at 6^th.
 
The Buccaneers had similar success in the one mile as well with Griffin Gillespie claiming the victory in the event. His time of 4:06.88 takes him to 4^th in school history for the event. Mason Raasch and Lin Scott had times of 4:20.11 and 4:24.28 for 5^th and 7^th in Saturday's field.
 
The last track event of the day for the squad was the 3K with the Bucs' entrees being some of the best collegiate runners in the event. Micah Gilpatric was the top finisher of college runners with a time of 7:59.18 while Jaden Kinglsey was close behind at 8:00.27 for a massive personal best. The time ranks second-best in school history and 8^th in Big South history.
 
In Michael Calhoun's first action since last indoor season, he broke his personal best which also ranked as the previous school record. He threw 17.57m to take second in the event and moved up into a tie for 6^th in conference history. Odin Ferency and Kasey Brown also finished in the top ten in the field with their best marks being 14.59m and 13.92m.
 
In the weight throw, Dexter Ratliff made his debut with the Bucs and had a tremendous debut with a mark of 18.35m to take second in the event. Calhoun and Aaron Pierce also competed with them taking 6^th and 7^th with marks of 16.29m and 16.01m.
 
The team will return to action at the Orange and Purple Invite hosted by Clemson from January 24-25 for their first back-to-back weekends at the ACC school.