The UCA men’s and women’s track and field teams broke three school records at the Southern Illinois Invitational.
The men placed second overall out of seven teams, while the women placed sixth overall out of nine teams.
Senior Connor Ryan broke the school record in the 800-meter run with a time of one minute and 54.40 seconds, placing first overall.
Freshman Daniel Spickes broke the school record in the pole vault, vaulting 4.97 meters and placing second overall.
He earned Southland Conference Field Athlete of the Week on Monday for his performance.
Twenty-four men placed in the top 10 during the weekend.
For the women, senior Tyaniah Cash broke the school record in the long jump, jumping 5.79 meters and taking home second place.
The women had nine top 10 performances during the weekend.
Cash also placed third in the 60-meter (7.73).
Freshman Brooke Wright placed third in the high jump at five feet three inches, while freshman Helene Sensee finished eighth in the 800-meter (2:23.27).
Senior Erika Setzler placed seventh in the 3,000-meter.
UCA’s 4×400 relay team of senior Jean Black, senior Khadijah Smith, sophomore Tiauna Jefferson and freshman Jasmine Richard finished fourth (4:04.86).
Black also finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdle (9.10) and 16th in the 200-meter dash (26.53).
Black said the team did well over the weekend.
“As a whole, I feel like the team has improved this weekend,” she said. “The team is improving, but there’s always room to run faster, throw longer, jump higher and support our teammates better.”
On the men’s side, several runners placed.
Sophomore Trevon Boyd placed first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.25.
Freshman Markus Schweikert finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:39.51.
In the long jump event, junior Anthony Farris-King placed fifth (6.81 meters) and junior Jaheel Lilly placed seventh (6.56).
Lilly placed fourth in the triple jump (14.11 meters), while Farris-King finished fifth (13.69).
Sophomore Ethan Bly finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.18 seconds, and junior Jaylon Watson was fifth with a time of 7.23.
In the 400-meter dash, freshman Jeremiah Watson finished third with a time of 50.65.
In the 800-meter dash, freshman Brant Cook finished fourth (1:56.85), junior Josh Quiroga finished fifth (1:57.36) and freshman Alonzo Pollum finished sixth (1:57.75).
Freshman Julien Jeandree finished fifth in the one-mile run (4:20.38), while Schweikert finished seventh (4:20.50) and senior Jonathan Burgess finished 10th (4:21.89).
UCA’s team of senior Chance Tanner, Boyd, senior Kelton Ray and Jeremiah Watson placed second, while junior Nakita Higgins, freshman Daniel Lawson, Bly and junior Deonte Watson finished sixth in the event.
With the Southland Conference meet coming up, Tanner said the team is ready.
“As far as improvements, I think we are in a pretty good position with indoor conference being next week,” he said. “The majority of the people who competed this weekend recorded new personal records; that’s always a good sign going into conference.”
The teams will travel to Birmingham, Alabama on Feb. 15-17 to compete in the Southland Conference Indoor, then compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13-15 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
