University of Mount Olive men's and women's indoor track and field team members established school records and NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks as the Trojans competed in a pair of meets over the weekend. Seven Trojans competed in the Armory Invitational at New York City and the remainder of the men's and women's team members competed in the Vince Brown Invitational at Newport News, Va.
At the Armory Invitational, which featured teams from throughout the U.S. and from all NCAA Divisions, freshman Chelsea van Dijk broke her own school record and established a provisional qualifying time in the women's 400 meters. She posted a time of 56.78 seconds, beating her previous best by nearly three seconds. The Trojans now have provisional qualifiers in three women's events. Aerostata Brown, who also competed in the Armory Invitational, already established provisional marks in the long jump and triple jump.
Dylan Lafond, who recorded an NCAA II automatic qualifying time in the men's mile run last week, posted a provisional qualifier in the 3000 meters at the Armory Invitational. He recorded a time of 8:14.39 to beat his own school record by six seconds. Austin Steagall recorded a provisional qualifier in the 5000 meters and beat the existing school record by 37 seconds. Steagall finished in a time of 14:21.24 to move past Ronnie Sturgill's record.
Karl Goodman, Aki Kitagawa and Jacob Urys joined Lafond to post a provisional qualifier and set a school record in the men's distance medley. The quartet shaved 15 seconds off the previous record with a time of 10:01.19. Goodman also broke his own school record in the 400 meters with a time of 50.13 seconds.
A new school record was established in the women's distance medley at the Vince Brown Invitational. Bailee Henry, Wislande Maxy, Alexis McNeil and Brionna Simmons posted a time of 13:23.90 to beat the previous school record by seven seconds.
Donavann Thornton, who already had the best mark in the conference this season in the weight throw, set a new school record at the Vince Brown Invitational. Thornton threw for a distance of 13.85 meters to move ahead of the mark set by Ryan Campbell, last year's Conference Carolinas Men's Indoor Track and Field (Field Events) Athlete of the Year.
Mount Olive has two weeks to prepare for the 2014 Conference Carolinas Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships, which take place February 23 at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C. JDL Fast Track was the site of last year's conference championships and is the site of the 2014 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field National Championships.