TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Franklin men's track and field kicked off 2026 with the Friday Night Spikes Larry Cole Opener at Rose-Hulman. Despite fielding a smaller roster, the team finished fourth in the seven-team field with 44 points behind a handful of notable individual efforts.

On the track, the Grizzlies saw three athletes qualify for the 60-meter finals — sophomore Brayden Wilkins (7.04), freshman Dyreese Elliott (7.17, putting him fifth in school history) and freshman Myles Baker (7.20). The three went on to take third (Wilkins), fifth (Baker) and seventh (Elliott) in the final.

In the 400 meters, junior Steven Scott claimed third (52.48), followed by freshman Khalid Amadou (53.25) and Blake Hughes (54.36) in fifth and seventh, respectively.

The distance crew saw two top-eight finishers in the 3,000-meter run. Sophomore William Hirsch (9:02.55) took third and senior Jonah Decker (9:25.11) crossed in seventh.

In the field, sophomore Garek Ellis cracked the school's all-time list at No. 10 with a toss of 12.59 meters (41-3.75). Freshman Hampton Crowe got his collegiate triple jump career started with a third-place finish, leaping 12.56 meters (41-3.75) to move into sixth all-time in school history.

The squad will be back in Terre Haute, Ind. next Friday (Jan. 23) for the second installment of the Friday Night Spikes series.