{"id":224102,"date":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224102\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:31:08","slug":"blue-demons-split-for-three-meet-weekend-in-florida-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224102\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Demons Split for Three-Meet Weekend in Florida, Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLORIDA\/ILLINOIS \u2013 After a week away from competition, DePaul track and field returns in full force this weekend, splitting for three separate meets, two in Florida and one in Illinois, to open the second half of the outdoor season.
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\nThe Blue Demons travel to the Chicagoland Outdoor Championships in Elmhurst, Ill. (Apr. 9-11), the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. (Apr. 10-11), and the South Florida Invitational in Tampa, Fla. (Apr. 10-11). Live results, schedules and more can be found here.
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\nThe Story So Far

\nDePaul has made a strong impression through two meets to open the outdoor season. At the UCF Black & Gold Invitational (Mar. 20-21), Alex Bernstein<\/a> won the hammer throw with a personal-best 68.00m, Jaiden Gary<\/a> placed second in the shot put (17.60m), and Katelyn Welsh<\/a> established DePaul’s first female outdoor pole vault mark (3.57m). On the track, Claire Dunn<\/a> (54.02, 400m), Demetrius Rolle<\/a> (10.42, 100m), and Jaiah Hopf<\/a> (12.45m, triple jump) all turned in standout performances. The weekend produced three BIG EAST weekly honorees in Bernstein, Dunn, and Hopf.
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\nAt the Joyce Morton-Keif Invite (Mar. 27-28), the Blue Demons recorded five event victories and a program record. Helen Baumgarten<\/a> swept the 100m hurdles (13.69) and 200m (24.51), Harper Bryan<\/a> won the men’s 400m hurdles (54.76 PR), Aisha Kazeem<\/a> took the women’s 400m hurdles (1:04.23), and Welsh reset her own program record in the pole vault at 3.83m.
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\nTop-10 Status
\nBernstein remains DePaul’s lone top-50 NCAA performer after back-to-back hammer throw victories to open the season. His personal-best 68.00m from the UCF opener currently ranks No. 10 nationally and tops the BIG EAST. The graduate student, an 18th-place finisher at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships, will look to push further up the leaderboard this weekend.
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\nWeekend Breakdown (All times in Central Standard Time)
\nChicagoland Outdoor Championships | Elmhurst, Ill. | Apr. 9-11 | Elmhurst University\u00a0
\nThrows competition opens Thursday at Wheaton College’s Lawson Field at 10 a.m. Action shifts to Elmhurst University’s facility Friday for field events, distance races, and hurdle prelims, before a full championship running card closes the meet Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
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\nHurricane Alumni Invitational | Coral Gables, Fla. | Apr. 10-11 | University of Miami
\nField events open Friday at 9 a.m. with the hammer. Saturday’s running finals begin at 2 p.m., featuring a full track card from the 4×100 relay through the 4×400 to close. The meet also hosts a full decathlon and heptathlon across both days.
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\nSouth Florida Invitational | Tampa, Fla. | Apr. 10-11 | USF Track & Field Stadium\u00a0
\nThe meet splits competition by gender, with men’s events Friday and women’s Saturday. Field events begin at 9 a.m. each day, with running finals starting at approximately 4 p.m.
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\nFOLLOW THE BLUE DEMONS

\nFor all of the latest on DePaul Cross Country, Track & Field, stay tuned to DePaulBlueDemons.com and follow the team on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, and X<\/a>.