Sophomore Lorelei Hayden has started the Bruins indoor track schedule in fast fashion as she has set or been a part of four new school records at the first two meets of the season. At last week's Scott Nisely Invite at Doane, Hayden joined teammates Caroline Feig, Sarah Felten, and Alisiara Hobbs in establishing a school record with a 10:57.06 clocking, good for a runner-up finish. She came back later in the meet at 1000 meters and took twelve seconds from the old mark with a 3:32.45 although that record would be subsequently broken by Feig a week later.
Sarah Felten opened her indoor 800-meter season with a 2:46.38 effort followed by Olivia Russo clocking 2:48.68. Russo came back later in the meet to cover the one-mile distance in 6:10.89. Also competing for the second time in the meet was Hobbs running a 3:49.73 over 1000 meters.
For the men, Aaron Newton opened his season with a lifetime best of 4:55.88 in the mile followed by a 2:12.99 time in the 800 meters. Finally, Edrei Murillo posted a 4:50.66 for the mile and came back to conclude the day's performances running 9:51.05, good for fourth place in the 3000-meter run.
Today (Friday) the team traveled to the Devaney Center in Lincoln for the Prairie Wolf Invite hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan. Lorelei Hayden opened with a school record in the mile run with her 5:48.12. Following her were four teammates; Caroline Feig (5:54.44), Olivia Russo (5:57.57), Sarah Felten (6:10.43), and Ali Hobbs (6:11.77). Hayden came back later to set a new 800-meter mark running 2:34.63 followed by Hobbs in 2:51.64. The final school record of the day came in the 1000 meter race as Feig eclipsed Hayden's week-old record by 1.5 seconds running 3:30.96. She was followed closely by Russo in 3:33.05 and Felten in 3:33.30.
The lone Bruin entrant for the men was Aaron Newton, improving on both of his times from the previous week's meet. Newton opened with a 4:49.94 clocking over one mile, an improvement of almost six seconds. He followed that with a 2:10.86 run in the 800 meters, knocking two seconds from his effort at the previous meet.
Coach Craig Christians: "We are really just remembering how to race indoors after being almost completely shut out last season due to Covid. We've been fortunate to get on the outdoor track almost weekly with some breaks in the weather. I really tip my cap to Coach Barbosa for preparing the team for racing. Today's Wesleyan meet saw some big improvements and that's not only due to the conditioning but Coach Barbosa's emphasis on each athlete believing in him or herself and running without fear. There's no doubt that the record-setting is going to continue this season."
The Bruins will be back on the track again next Saturday with a return trip to Doane and the Fred Beile Invite.
