WARRENSBURG, Mo./AZUSA, Calif. — Missouri Western Track & Field broke three school records and hit three NCAA provisional marks over the weekend at both the Mule Relays and the Bryan Clay Invitational.
The Griffons were spread out on Friday, competing at multiple events for the first time this season. The Griffon distance team found themselves running next to Division I competition at the Bryan Clay Invite at Azusa Pacific University. Straight out of the gate in the women's 1,000-meter run,
Madison Nash tallied an NCAA provisional mark with time of 35:17.50 to take seventh place.
Kayden Crigger took down a slew of Division I opponents en route to a school record 14:49.47 in the men's 5,000-meter run. He is the first Griffon to ever break the 15-minute mark in the 5k outdoor, breaking his own school record by 14 seconds and finishing in the top half of a highly-skilled open competition.
The success continued for MWSU back in the state of Missouri.
Camryn Huggans got things started for the Griffons in Warrensburg, placing third in the women's javelin throw with a 39.69-meter throw. Huggans was less than two meters off first place and just over a meter behind second.
Haley Sampson wrapped up the top-five finishes on Friday, running a time of 1:00.34 in the women's 400-meter dash to place fourth. Sampson was just .05 seconds behind Lexie Fontaine from Washburn and just .15 seconds ahead of Central Methodist's Natalie Garr.
Saturday saw two more school records fall. The first was thanks to
MJ Smith. A top-30 finish in yet another field loaded with DI talent that was over 90 runners deep helped Smith break his own school record in the men's 200-meter dash back at the Bryan Clay Invite.
Aneesa Abdul-Hameed took 29th in the women's 400-meter run, hitting an NCAA provisional mark with a time of 55.84 seconds.
The final event of Saturday night in California was the men's 1,500-meter open.
Riley Gorham finished 25th out of 190 finishers, with over half of the field from DI schools. Gorham clocked in at 3:48.17, a new school record and a national provisional qualification time to boot.
The Griffons had numerous personal-bests over the weekend across the events and a multitude of national provisional qualifying times. There are now just two weekends of competition left before the MIAA Championships meet in Jefferson City, Missouri, and every PR will be crucial in the push to qualify for the NCAA regional meet.
UP NEXT
The Griffons head to Emporia State next Saturday to compete at the Midwest Classic in Emporia, Kansas.
