On Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, members of the UCA men’s and women’s track and field teams doubled up on events and broke records. Several placed in the top five or 10 places in their events.
On the men’s team, senior Josue Quiroga placed third in the 1000-meter run and set a new UCA record with a time of 2:28.12.
Quiroga said the race was a challenge.
“Well it was tough, the race was very competitive all the fast races were in the afternoon and I was eager to race right away, … before the race started I was so nervous but as soon as we were racing I was calm,” he said. “I gave it my all out there and came out with a new UCA record.”
Quiroga’s UCA record was only five seconds short of the USA Track & Field indoor qualifying time.
“I didn’t know about that until my friend had messaged me and told me that after the meet, but if I would have hit it … I would have been extremely happy,” he said.
Quiroga isn’t content to just break one record. His goals for the season include setting a new record in the 800-meter run.
“I feel like I’m on track for my season goal … [of]breaking my record in the 800m,” he said. “Honestly I was looking to break the mile record at one point but I’m way too focused on the 800m.”
Quiroga also ran the men’s distance medley relay with sophomore Markus Schwiekert, junior James Lassiter and sophomore Julien Jeandree. The teammates placed fourth with a time of 10:32.37.
Sophomore Eric Moore placed first in the men’s high jump with a height of 2.13 meters.
On the women’s team, junior Hadley Swanson participated in the pentathlon, which consists of five events. She placed within the top 10 in all.
Swanson placed sixth out of 22 in the women’s indoor pentathlon amateur session. She placed ninth in the indoor pentathlon 800-meter run with a time of 2:39.90. In the long jump indoor pentathlon, Swanson placed fifth with a distance of 5.14 meters. In the indoor pentathlon shot put, she placed 10 with a distance of 9.49 meters. In the indoor pentathlon high jump, she was fourth with a height of 1.59 meters. In the indoor pentathlon 60-meter hurdles, she made eighth place.
Swanson said she felt good about her day of competing.
“I was pretty exhausted because it was a really long day of competing, but that’s a big part of it,” she said. “I just had to put my best foot forward and go for it.”
Swanson said she doesn’t normally compete in that many events.
“I normally compete in around three events at a meet,” she said. “But the pentathlon is the event I’ll be competing in during indoor conference in a few weeks, so I did the pentathlon this weekend as a sort of practice for conference.”
Other highlights from the women’s team included junior Brigette Carruthers placing second in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:36.53, freshman Alejandra Ruiz placing second in the one mile run with a time of 5.25.41 and freshman Taylor Dunn placing second in the 1000-meter run with a time of 3:12.04. Carruthers, Ruiz and Dunn also ran the women’s distance relay with freshman Victoria Campfield. They placed third with a time of 12:55.36. Campfield placed third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:23.55.
UCA track and field will next compete at Southern Illinois University on Feb. 5.
image via UCA Athletics
