ANDERSON, S.C. - With temperatures hovering in the mid-30s outside, the Anderson University men's and women's track and field teams open their respective indoor seasons at the Joe Hilton Open, hosted by North Carolina, Saturday in Chapel Hill.

Events are scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. at UNC's Eddie Smith Field House, beginning with the men's weight throw and wrapping up just prior to 4 p.m. with the women's 4x400 meter relay.

"I like the [overall] schedule so far," said 11th-year head coach Randy Greer. "With the schedule in its current form, I am really pleased with where we are going, the spacing of the events and being able to train in between meets."

Buoyed by the return of 13 letterwinners on the women's squad and eight returners on the men's team, Greer is looking for the returners to have "better indoor seasons this year. A lot of them were freshmen this time last year, and they were looking at their very first track season in college. I am hoping that we can have a stronger indoor season and then have that transition into the outdoor season."

Sherin Malone and D'Yandra Morris each earned Outdoor Track and Field All-Region honors at the conclusion of last season, with Malone, a native of Spartanburg, S.C., claiming the accolade for her stellar efforts in the 100 meter hurdles, while Morris brought home the honor in the shot put event.

Last season, Malone set a new school record with a first-place time of 14.96 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles to help lead the Trojans to a third-place finish at the inaugural South Atlantic Conference Championships and also took first place in the 100 meter hurdles at the Chanticleer Classic last April. Morris placed first in the shot put at the SAC Championships, while Bari Robinson captured the top spot in the women's 800 meter run.

"Our throwers are still going to be very good on the women's side," added Greer. "Sherrin is back and will compete in the hurdles. Middle distance should be much stronger than it was last year, which is saying a lot, because we did very well last year at the conference. And we will have a little more depth on the distance events this year."

For the men, Ben Boerma set a new school record in the men's 5000 meter run (Outdoor) at Charlotte's 49er Classic, with Philip DeGraaf taking the top spot in the men's pole vault at the SAC Championships.

Greer says the strengths of this year's men's squad lies in the sprints and jumps. "We are really strong 100 through 400 and we also have some good distance runners, but we are not as deep as in the past, so those guys are going to have to run really well. Some of our relays and sprints are going to be some of the strongest that we've had in years."

In addition to the returning track and field athletes, Greer will look to his newcomers and cross country runners who gained collegiate experience and posted stellar success in the fall to provide leadership on the track.

"We have some really talented kids on both the men's and women's sides. Mason [Hazel] is coming off his strong performances at the regionals and we are hoping to transition that straight into the track season. We have a whole group of incoming freshmen sprinters that are very good and could really change the face of the program when it comes to the men. We will have to see how everyone does, but I'm expecting big things."

Hazel collected SAC All-Freshman team accolades and was named to the Second-Team All-Conference squad.

Freshman Haylee Love earned South Atlantic Conference Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors last November and was named Second-Team All-Conference and earned All-Freshman Team accolades alongside teammate Alex Dixon. The duo became the third and fourth women's runners to earn All-SAC Freshman Team honors since Anderson joined the league in 2010, while sophomore Olivia Gardner also earned Second-Team All-Conference accolades.

"For those runners involved in cross country, they basically get three competitive seasons and it helps keep them sharp throughout the year. Cross country is really good at building a base strength for the track events later in the spring and plays a big part in how they are able to run in the spring. It's also good for all the track athletes to have the distance kids coming off cross country and being stronger. Cross country makes the track team better as a whole."

Following the opening trip to the Tar Heel State, the Trojans will have two weeks to prepare for Clemson's Bob Pollock Invitational on Jan. 23-24. Last season marked the first time the Trojans competed at the event, but AU has competed at least twice at Clemson each season for the last four years, so the teams should be familiar with their surroundings.

More than 20 schools competed in the two-day event last season, with AU's Jill Baxter earning seventh in the opening day's pentathlon event, while Devan Fisher claimed fourth in the one mile run, Mia Swierzs placed 12th in the 3000 meter run and Robinson garnered 22nd in the 800 meter run. Savanna Keese finished 18th in the weight throw a year ago, with Morris capturing 21st.

Day Two saw Olivia Gardner capture ninth in the seeded 3,000 meter run, while Sydney Hazel finished 16th in the seeded one mile run. Morris garnered 20th in the shot put, while the combination of Gardner, Hazel, Robinson and Sherin Malone finished fourth in the distance medley.

On the men's side, Jesse Patrick claimed sixth in the mile run, while Ned Kennedy brought home eighth place. Michael Burch placed second in the 3,000 meter run, with Jonathan Shorter finishing 30th. The 800 meter run saw sophomore Joshua Visi-Clark notch a 29th-place finish and Boerma earned third in the men's seeded 3,000 meter run.

Anderson continues its indoor slate on Feb. 6-7 by returning to the hills of east Tennessee for the fifth time in six seasons to compete at the Buccaneer Track and Field Invitational, hosted by East Tennessee State in Johnson City.

A year ago at the ETSU/MSHA Athletics Center at the David E. Walker Track and Gentry Field, Keese finished 12th and Morris claimed 25th in the finals of the weight throw. Gardner brought home ninth place in the 3000 meter run, while classmates Grace Gerlock and Amber Worthy crossed the line in 14th and 16th, respectively. Hazel claimed 14th in the mile run, with Robinson finishing 25th in the 800 meter run. The group of Hazel, Gardner, Robinson and Baxter claimed 10th in the women's distance medley.

Eric Hoover notched 23rd in the finals of the men's triple jump, with Boerma claiming the fifth spot overall and Kennedy posting a 12th-place finish in the 3000 meter run.

On Feb. 20-21, the Trojans will return to the JDL Fast Track after a two-year absence to take part in the UCS Invitational in Winston Salem, N.C., with the NCAA Indoor Nationals scheduled for March 13-14 in Birmingham, Ala.

Anderson opens the outdoor season with a mid-March trip to Coastal Carolina for the CCU Invitational for the sixth straight year. The Trojans came away from the Chanticleer Classic with three first-place finishes on the women's side a year ago, with a quartet of Trojan freshmen captured the top four spots in the women's 3000 meter run. Gardner brought home first place, with Gerlock, Worthy and Swierzs claiming second, third and fourth, respectively.

Malone took the top spot in the 100 meter hurdles, while Robinson paced three Trojans runners in the 800 meter run by crossing the line in fourth. Fisher placed 10th in the event. Hazel led five AU runners in the 1500 meter run, finishing third, with Robinson claiming fourth, while Gardner claimed fifth, Gerlock garnered seventh and Swierzs was 11th. With Malone and Baxter, the 4x100 meter relay team captured third, while Baxter, Malone and Robinson also helped the 4x400 meter relay team finish third.

Baxter brought home third in both the high jump and the javelin throw, while Keese claimed 11th in the shot put, seventh in the discus throw and fifth in the hammer throw.

On the men's side, Visi-Clark took sixth in the men's 800 meter run, with Boerma crossing the line in 10th, while Patrick, Kennedy and Burch finished 12th, 13th and 17th, respectively. Shorter captured fourth in the 400 meter hurdles, with Hoover taking ninth in the discus throw and second in the javelin throw. The men's 4x100 meter relay "A" team that included Shorter and Hoover finished third, while Hoover, Shorter and Visi-Clark helped the 4x400 meter relay team to third place. The Anderson "B" team of Boerma, Kennedy and Patrick finished fourth.

On March 27-28, Greer will split the squads, with some of the Trojans heading to the Emory Classic for the fifth time in six years and some to the Raleigh Relays for the first time since 2012.

Two weeks later, AU returns to the Bluegrass State to compete at the University of the Cumberlands Invitational for the second time in three seasons, while the South Atlantic Conference Championships are scheduled for April 17-18 in Hickory, N.C.

The Trojan women claimed third at the inaugural SAC Championships last season, with Keese finishing second in the hammer throw, while Morris brought home sixth. Baxter claimed 15th in the long jump and finished in a four-way tie for third in the high jump. Baxter finished eighth in the javelin throw, with Keese claiming 20th. Gerlock earned fifth in the 10,000 meter run.

Malone set a new school record with a first-place finish in the 100 meter hurdles, while claiming 10th place in the shot put. Morris took first place in the shot put, while Keese took seventh in the discus throw. Robinson captured first place in the 800 meter run and fifth in the 1500 meter run, with Hazel crossing the line in fourth in the 1500 meter run.

The 4x100 meter relay team of Malone, Baxter, then-senior Madison Guest and freshman Lauren Averitt captured fifth, while Hazel, Baxter, Robinson and Guest finished fifth in the 4x400 meter relay. Gardner, Gerlock, Swiersz and Worthy claimed fourth, seventh, ninth and 14th, respectively in the women's 5000 meter run.

The men's squad finished sixth at the conference championships, with Hoover bringing home 20th in the javelin throw. DeGraaf took first place in the pole vault, while Hoover captured 11th in the discus throw and 11th in the triple jump. Visi-Clark placed fourth in the 800 meters, while Boerma and Kennedy finished 12th and 14th, respectively in the 5000 meter run, while Burch was 19th. The 4x400 tandem of Visi-Clark, Shorter and Patrick claimed seventh.

Also on the slate is a trip to the City of Brotherly Love for the Penn Relays on April 23-25, and the Trojans will travel to Boone, N.C. for Appalachian State's Mountaineer Outdoor Open on May 16. The NCAA Outdoor National Championships are scheduled for May 21-23 in Allendale, Mich.