Two UCA records were broken while the Bears’ track and field teams competed in the John McDonnell Invitational held April 7-8.
The invitational, which was hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, spanned over Thursday and Friday and featured track and field events from both the men’s and women’s teams.
Senior Alex Hanson broke the previous men’s 3000m record with a time of 8:27.13. He took pride in how the bears represented UCA despite the difficult weather.
“I was very happy with my performance and proud of how well the rest of the team battled through that cold weather and strong wind,” Hanson said.
Freshman Michaelangelo Bullard broke the other school record and placed second in the men’s Javelin.
Bullard threw a 62.91m in the event, overthrowing the previous record by 2.69m, according to UCA Sports.
“This is my first season competing athletically in college,” Bullard said. “I felt like this meet was very much what I needed in terms of progressing this season, although the weather wasn’t really my best friend. I was still blessed enough to break the UCA school record, which I was very excited to do.”
“It was something I was looking forward to since the first meet, so I’m glad I got it out of the way,” he said. “As a team, it wasn’t our best meet, seeing as the weather shut down most of our race plans, but on the throwers’ side, we had a few personal bests that helped make the meet worth it.”
Among the records broken were a multitude of personal bests. Placing third overall in the men’s 4×400 meter relay, the bears ran a personal best of 3:13.20.
Tristan LaVan, a junior on the relay team, ran the first leg of the men’s 4×400 meter relay alongside his teammates Jaiden Ventour, Shamal Sullivan and Jordan Johnson.
“Overall, I feel like we can get better,” LaVan said. “Coach Bernard set us up to be successful in every workout that we do.”
Despite their performance, LaVan looks ahead to perfecting their craft and qualifying for regionals. “We need to get back in the lab,” LaVan said. “We have to run 3:10 or faster to qualify in the 4×4 for regionals.”
LaVan recognized this meet as an opportunity for the team to have fun and understand where they need to be for the future.
Tyler Rose, a senior who competed in the women’s 4×100 and 4×400 meter relays, holds a similar sentiment to that of LaVan.
“It was very cold and a bit windy, so our performances weren’t the best, time-wise,” Rose said. “We’ve run faster, but there were a couple of mishaps besides the weather.” In women’s 4×100, Rose’s relay placed 5th, while her 4×400 meter relay team placed 2nd overall.
“We go back to practice Monday and will continue to fix handoffs and things of that sort,” Rose said. Rose said that the UCA track and field team gave a decent performance at the invitational.
Other personal records include a 12.91m throw in the Shot Put by Maximillian Laur, a 37.20m hammer throw by Kiara Williams, a time of 9:44:60 in the Steeplechase by Fionn Harrington and a 15:53 in the 100m hurdles by Natalie Louw.