STORY BY EMILY LAMBIE
Over this past weekend, the Bulldogs traveled to the University of Missouri to compete in the Tom Botts Invitational. The team set several new personal records for individuals on the team and a new school record.
“The team is performing way above where I thought they would be, which is cool so I’m thrilled.” head coach Natasha Brown said. “We’re in a good spot.”
Among those athletes was first-year Mary Young, who set a Drake record in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.38 and won the event. She came back to the track later in the day to take second place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.20, which was a personal best for Young.
“I think (Young’s) experience from Relays, being frustrated with her performance there carried over,” Brown said. “It was so exciting. She was just in it and fighting and racing and just being competitive all the way through the line. It was an amazing race.”
“I feel really good. It feels like all my hard work has paid off,” Young added. “I couldn’t even believe I ran that fast cause it didn’t really feel like it.”
Her teammate, Virginia Hill, placed first in the same event with a time of 1:00.34.
Along with Young and Hill, the Bulldogs had several other strong performances. In the 200-meters, Pierce Vincent and Steven Jordan took second and third respectively along with achieving personal bests. Vincent finished with a time of 21.32 and Jordan finished in 21.38. Jordan came back later in the afternoon to win the 400-meter with a time of 49.47.
“We’re going more into our speed training, so I’m expecting them to run fast, maybe not as fast as some of them did, but it’s always good when the team and athletes specifically can have personal bests,” hurdles coach LaRon Bennett said.
In the field events, Sean Buczek led the team with a personal best of 48-1.75 to take fifth in the triple jump.
In the distance competitions junior Emma Huston ran in the 1500 meters on Friday night, finishing with a personal best of 4:29.26.
The Bulldogs will travel to Lincoln this week for the Nebraska Invitational on Friday.
