Bruins rewrite school record list to begin indoor track season

YANKTON, S.D. -- The indoor track season is off to a fast start for the Bruins as ten school records have been established or broken after two early-season meets.
On Saturday afternoon in Yankton, the Mount Marty Opener saw seven records fall. Maggie Boley led the assault, setting three school records in the 800 meters, the mile, and as part of the women's 4 x 400-meter relay squad.

In the 800, Boley ran 2:23.85, which ranks fourth among Frontier Conference marks and eighteenth in the NAIA. She broke Wren Hofacket's school record set just weeks earlier at the Concordia Early Bird. Hofacket ran 2:30.28 at Mount Marty.

Boley ran to her second school record and the fastest time in the Frontier and number eleven in the NAIA in the mile run, posting a 5:14.38. Ashley Guatelmala-Ortiz ran 6:08.61 while Cloey Usher came home in 6:51.94. In the men's mile, Cody Fikar took home a meet championship t-shirt, racing to a 4:35.30 victory. He was followed by Robbie Siford in sixth place, clocking 4:51.35.

Freshman Trey Larson set a school best in the 600-meter run as he placed third in 1:27.39. At 1000 meters, Lydia Cherotich was third in 3:43.82.

Grace Steinmetz, running her first race since her fifth-place finish at the national cross country meet, set a school record at 3,000 meters, winning the race in 10:41.17, a mark that places her twenty-second in the NAIA. For the men, Jose Lara Flores posted an NAIA number 24 mark and a Frontier Conference leader, finishing second in 8:56.23. Close behind in fourth was Jack Brown, clocking 9:00.93.

At 200 meters, both school marks were established, the first by Emily Usher with her 29.77 clocking. A few minutes later, Avan Salas set the men's mark in 23.27.

The final school record of the day came in the women's 4 x 400 relay, where the team of Emily Usher, Hofacket, Steinmetz, and Boley recorded 4:32.95 for the new mark. The men's squad of Salas, Fikar, Larson, and Siford placed second in 3:39.38, just off the mark set earlier at Concordia.

Assistant Coach Matt Musiel: "It was a decent start to the season, but we've got a lot of work to do. This is a motivated group, and hopefully this meet has given them an appetite to keep working and improving."

The Bruins return to action next week when they travel to Doane for the Scott Nisely Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 17 in Crete, Neb.