The Incarnate Word Men's Track and Field Team finished in third place at the 2026 Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, which concluded Thursday evening. The Cardinals totaled 96.5 points over the two-day meet, beating their projections by 26.5 points.

Gabriel Grebet was named Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year at the conclusion of the 2026 Championships, highlighted by his gold medal winning performance in the Men's Heptathlon.

The junior from Briis-Sous-Forges, France, sat in first place after Day 1's three events and maintained that advantage as the final four events took place throughout Thursday. He started the day by winning the Heptathlon High Jump, clearing 1.99m, then won the Heptathlon 60m Hurdles with a Southland Conference Meet record-breaking time of 8.02 seconds, which was 0.35 seconds faster than his closest competitor. The gap narrowed after a tie for fourth in Heptathlon Pole Vault, clearing the 4.30m bar, but he came back to close out the victory with a 2:50.00, first-place finish in the Heptathlon 1000m run. He narrowly beat teammate Mika Funck in the 1000m, as Funck locked up a third-place overall finish in the Heptathlon with the points from his second-place showing.

Funck finished top-3 in five of the seven events, with his lowest finish being seventh in the Long Jump on Day 1. He was Top 3 in all Day 2 events, finishing third in each of the High Jump, 60m Hurdles, and Pole Vault before posting second in the 1000m run. Tommaso Franze finished fourth and Elias Kraut finished seventh as all Cardinal competitors in the Heptathlon added to the team total.

Outside of the Heptathlon, Incarnate Word took first place in Men's Weight Throw and Men's 1 Mile, while posting eight other top five finishes.

Alex Brown secured one of the first-place finishes for Incarnate Word on the day, topping the field with a 19.04m throw to win Men's Weight Throw.

Anthony Zapata posted the third-best qualifying time in the Men's 1 Mile Prelims, but improved upon his time in the finals, finishing in 4:10.40, to win the gold medal in the event. Ethan Malesich crossed the finish line in 4:11.29 to take the bronze for the Cardinals. Zapata added to his scoring with a fourth place showing in the Men's 800m.

The Cardinals placed two in the top five of both Men's Long Jump and Men's Pole Vault and nearly added 60m Hurdles to that list as well but narrowly missed out. Tajh Jones took the bronze in Men's Long Jump with a best distance of 7.49m. Grebet took fourth with a jump of 7.31m.

In Pole Vault, Jonah Ulbricht added a silver medal to the day's hardware haul, clearing 4.95m, while Funck topped 4.75m and finished fourth. Then, in the 60m Hurdles, Jake Grullon took fifth, with a time of 8.23 seconds, crossing just ahead of Grebet, who had the top qualifying time in the prelims, but finished sixth in 8.24 seconds.

Next up for the Cardinals are NCAA Nationals, starting on March 13th in Fayetteville, AR.