
Curtis Meyer, Reporter
Both men’s and women’s track continuted to break records throughout the weekend, fueled by impressive individual performances, including two NCAA Division II records broke on Saturday. Around 1400 athletes attended the event, including several from MIAA divisional rivals.
Pitt State entered the events ranked as the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA division II, and they lived up to that ranking this weekend.
Cordell Tinch, a sophomore hurdler, broke the Division II record in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 7.50 seconds. This is the fourth fastest time in the world for this calendar year and is the best among all USA athletes.
This was followed up by another record breaking performance in the 4 by 400 meter relay, made up of Junior Bailey Stone, Junior Sam Tudor, Senior Corey Lyons, and Senior Braylen Brewer. They broke the all time Division II mark with a time of 3:07.72.
Tinch also managed to break the Pitt State record in the high jump with a clearance of 7 feet, 2.5 inches.
The Gorillas started strong on Feb. 10 with a limited number of events taking place. Junior L. J. Kiner won the long jump for Pitt State, hitting 24 feet, 7.25 inches to give Pitt State it’s first gold of the event.
Sophomore Braden Zaner recorded a personal best time of 14:22.67 in the 5,000 meter, good for third in Pitt State history.
Bailey Stone and sophomore Antione Evans Jr. each recorded a personal best in the 200 meters, with Stone taking fifth best in Pitt State history and Evans taking ninth.
The women broke records as well, with the distance medley relay of graduate student Hannah Honeyman, freshman Taniya Looney, sophomore Kate Dawson, and freshman Jentrie Alderson set a new school record and the eighth fastest time in the NCAA this season with an 11:46.19.
The Gorillas continued their performance on Saturday, with junior Auna Childress improving her school record in the triple jump with a new personal best mark of 43 feet, 2.25 inches, good for the top mark in Division so far this season.
Kate Dawson was able to lower her own school record in the mile run, notching a new PR time of 4:54.14. Junior Erica Schamel won the women’s long jump with a height of 5 feet, 8.5 inches. Jentrie Alderson was able to win the women’s 3,000 meters with a fastest time of 9:53.31.
The women also took home the gold in the 4 by 400 relay with sophomore Blakelee Winn, sophomore Jamiya Morgan, freshman Kinleigh Hall, and freshman Taniya Looney posting a 3:46.04.
Lyons and Stone broke the second and third fastest times, respectively, in school history for the men’s 400 meter with times of 47.37 and 47.38, while Evans posted the third fastest time in school history for the 60 meter with a time of 6.69.
Pitt State track and field will head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they will attend the Arkansas Tune-Up, hosted by the University of Arkansas on Feb. 17.