KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – Ansbach’s Greyson Strabala still speaks in awe of former teammate Tamia McLaughlin.

The six-time European champion in all three jumping disciplines was finishing her career as his began.

“Just the inspiration from her alone was amazing,” Strabala said. “It just set off my entire track career.”

Two years after she graduated, a new group of Cougars are pouncing among Europe’s best – and one of them carries a familiar name.

During a season-opening meet Friday at Kaiserslautern High School, Strabala and Okenie McLaughlin, Tamia’s younger brother, combined to win all three jumping events. Okenie McLaughlin grabbed the long jump and triple jump wins with jumps of 19 feet, 8 inches and 40-9.25, respectively.

Strabala, meanwhile, beat McLaughlin to take first in the high jump at 5-11. McLaughlin came in third at 5-9.

Both juniors, McLaughlin credited Strabala with motivating him in the high jump.

“He pushes me a lot to get to his level and stuff,” McLaughlin said. “I appreciate him.

“I’m trying to pass him, but I’m not quite there yet.”

McLaughlin dominated in his two wins Friday. He topped Ramstein junior Jayden Sheldon-Murphy by 1.5 feet in the triple jump, while he only needed two attempts at the long jump to defeat SHAPE’s sophomore Tristan Neago and the field by 2 feet.

The high jump was a different matter, though.

Last year’s European champion, sophomore Kai Lewis of Stuttgart, was in attendance, and his personal record is 6-1. Neither Strabala, who placed third at the 2024 championship meet, nor McLaughlin, who took sixth last year, had accomplished that feat.

On Friday, Strabala was the only one to clear the bar at 5-11 and even came close to getting over it at 6-0.

“Starting off my entire season with (my PR from last year) means a lot,” Strabala said. “It proves my growth in the offseason, and beating the reigning champion means even more.”

Strabala’s performance has his coach, Shannon Daniels, and himself thinking he might go after the long jump as well.

The junior said he feels uncomfortable leaping forward instead of up. But he expressed a desire to try it, and because he jumps off the opposite foot in the long jump than his main event, it shouldn’t affect his high-jumping ability.

“After my performance in the high jump, my confidence is really high,” Strabala said. “So, I feel like I can do anything.

“Watching Okenie compete in the long jump really showed my opportunities in the event. I told them I’d give it a try.”

McLaughlin, meanwhile, welcomes the competition.

In fact, he sees it as a great opportunity to help the team get more points, should the duo go first and second in both the long and high jumps.

“It would be good,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve had done it during the season, but at Euros, it would be more points for the team.”

Another Bavarian-based athlete made her mark in the 12-team meet that included Kaiserslautern, Ramstein, SHAPE, Stuttgart, Vilseck, Wiesbaden, AFNORTH, Ansbach, Baumholder, Brussels, Hohenfels and Spangdahlem.

Vilseck’s Mazie Lorcher won three sprinting events Friday – the 200-meter dash, the 400 and the 4x100 relay.

It wasn’t a bad haul for someone who had been a middle-distance runner previously and only ran the 200 to gauge her 400 time.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Lorcher said of possibly switching to sprinting. “I’ve never really liked middle distance – I just happen to be good at it.”

Lorcher and her coaches don’t need to imagine how good she could be when she’s good at something she likes.

She set a personal best in the 200 of 27.35 seconds. That time came after she had produced a 1:01.12 in the 400, 2.5 seconds faster than Kaiserslautern junior Lellah Guhn in second.

Lorcher began the day running the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay quartet that included junior Gemma Profili, sophomore Victoria Shields and freshman Jordyn Roscoe. They finished in 53.44, a second ahead of Kaiserslautern’s team.

The junior admitted she was nervous heading into Friday, but those concerns didn’t stop her from having a big day.

“I had to convince myself to have fun with what I was doing today,” Lorcher said. “I did a lot of offseason training, so I had to continue to tell myself that if anyone was ready for today, it was me.”

SHAPE’s Dario Delgado Vitores wasn’t concerned about a possible contest with Wiesbaden’s distance powerhouse Luke Jones.

He’s still looking forward to it, even though he missed out Friday as Jones didn’t compete.

“I don’t know him, but I am very excited,” Delgado Vitores said. “I know having somebody to stick to would improve both our times since we can help each other.”

Not that Delgado Vitores needed the motivation on Kaiserslautern’s track.

In his first meet as a Spartan, the senior set new personal records in the 800 and 1,600 en route to dominating performances.

Delgado Vitores won the 1,600 race in a time of 4:36.12, 9 seconds better than his previous high mark and 21 seconds faster than Ansbach freshman Ryan Benson. The Spanish national then took first in the 800 in 2:05.96, nearly a second better than his last best time and nearly 11 seconds ahead of Ramstein junior Christopher De La Torre.

Despite already posting qualifying times for the European meet, Delgado Vitores isn’t going to rest on his laurels.

“I want to compete so I can improve my times before the championships,” Delgado Vitores said.