The Murray State track and field team continued their trend of breaking personal records at the Grand Valley State University Big Meet Feb. 13-14.
“It was a really big meet for us,” Head Coach Jenny Severns said. “We had a lot of break-through performances. We couldn’t have asked for more.”
Junior Alicyn Hester landed 10th on the all-time best list for Murray State, running the 800m in 2:18.60. Hester also ran a season best in the mile, crossing the finish line at 5:08.12.
“It was a really exciting weekend for me. I finally had a breakthrough,” Hester said. “I think that as a whole, the team in two weeks at OVC, we are all going to have even bigger personal records.”
Freshman Vallery Korir claimed second place on the All-Time Best list this week in the 5000m, coming in at 17:19.01.
“Vallery was only 7/10 of a second away from the school record in the 5K,” Severns said. “So that was really big. Then to come back and run well in the mile, that was really good.”
Several Racers set new personal records in the mile this weekend, including freshman Rebekah Priddy at 5:30.70, junior Heatherly Paschall at 5:31.20, freshman Emily Flaherty at 5:31.89, junior Jacquelyn Thate at 5:35.91 and junior Rebecca Morris at 5:58.
The weight throw was also a personal record-packed event. Senior Brianna McCarthy set a new personal record, landing seventh place on the Murray State all-time best list in the weight throw when she threw a distance of 14.48m. Freshman Abbie Lukens threw 13.17m for her personal record, while junior Lexy Schleper threw 12.18m for hers.
Honorable mentions include:
Freshman Caroline Grogan landed fourth on the Murray State all-time best list in the 5000m when she ran a 17:40.96.
Junior Jill Jachino now holds fifth place on the Murray State all-time best list with the pole vault distance of 2.61m and went a distance of 10.49m.
Sophomore Taylor Adcock landed eighth on the Murray State all-time best list when she ran 1:37.66 in the 600m
Next week, the Racers will stay home to train and recover in preparation for Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships, scheduled to take place Feb. 27-28 in Charleston, Ill.
“This week is about remembering we are fit and just recovering and getting our minds ready for OVC,” Severns said.
Story by Da’Sha Tuck, Staff writer