Seven Records Fall at Highlander Invitational
(Houghton,
N.Y.)—Houghton College men’s and women’s track and field athletes set
seven school records and two qualified for the National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national meet at the Highlander
Invitational Thursday at Houghton’s Alumni Athletic Complex.
For the women, Naomi Christensen broke a Houghton record for the
second consecutive week and Kaitlin Fadden set her third mark of the
outdoor season. Two relay teams—the 4 X 100M and the sprint medley
(SMR)—set marks as well.
Christensen ran a 12.88 in the 100M dash to replace the
five-year-old Houghton standard of 12.91 held by Hallie Fairchild. It
was Christensen’s second record of the outdoor season; last Saturday she
set a new 200M time of 26.34.
Fadden set a new Highlander 5K mark (18:03.44) at that same meet
last week and broke the 10K mark with a 37:52.04 the week before that.
Thursday she ran the half-marathon in 1:21:52.4 to set a new Houghton
record at that distance. The time also automatically qualified her for
the NAIA national championship meet later this year.
Jacob Connor also earned an automatic berth at the NAIA national
meet in the half-marathon, running a 1:14:12.9. That was also a new
Houghton record, shaving more than a minute off the time that Connor had
set last year.
Mike Platt (1:15:47.9) and Joe Campagna (1:16:17.8) earned
provisional qualifying for the national tournament in the half-marathon
as well.
Four Highlander relay teams set new school records at the meet,
the women’s 4 X 100M, the men’s distance medley relay (DMR) and both the
men’s and women’s 1600M SMR teams.
Shonnelle Trotman, Bethany Christensen, Sarah Whipple and Naomi
Christensen ran the 4 X 100M in 50.96, surpassing the 51.11 mark set two
years ago by a team that included both Naomi Christensen and Whipple.
Kaitlin Smith, both Christensen sisters and Darby Emerson teamed
up to post a 4:19.22 in the 1600M SMR, taking down the ten-year-old
school record of 4:52.9.
The men’s 1600 SMR team of Steve Scott, Johnny Kimani, Dan
Ballard and Josiah Snelgrove (pictured above) ran a 3:38.49 to replace the 4:01.1 time
set ten years ago. Those same four—running in a different order—also set
a new DMR record of 10:35.96; the previous record of10:45.17 had been
posted 12 years ago.
The men’s team finished second among the five teams competing:
Houghton, Alfred State, Erie Community College, Finger Lakes Community
College and Roberts Wesleyan College. The women’s team placed first
among those same teams.
Both Highlanders teams will travel to Slippery Rock (Pa.) State
University to compete in the Slippery Rock Invitational on Saturday.
