DANVILLE, Ky.--- The Asbury track & field team continued their aggression toward the school-record book on Saturday in the Centre College Showcase in Danville, Ky., led by Mikayla Ruccio,
Kallee Cooper, and
Brendan Funke each setting two individual school marks apiece.
The Asbury women's team amassed 42 points to finish eighth out of the 16 teams competing in the meet with Berry College and Campbellsville University claiming the top two positions. The Eagles' men's team tallied 20 points to finish 11
th out of the 15 scoring teams. Campbellsville and Centre went 1-2 in the men's standings to finish the meet.
AU sophomore
Bailey Gassmann scored an impressive double, sweeping first place in both the Mile run and 3000 meter races by wide margins. Her time of 11:04.4 qualifies her to compete in that event at the National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) National Championship meet in February. Gassmann had previously already qualified in the Mile to race at Nationals.
The other outright victory for Asbury came in the final event of the long day as
Ambria Mack,
Kallee Cooper,
Adyson Mattingly, and
Brooke O'Carroll joined forces to win the 4x400 meter relay in a new AU school-record of 4:27.1. The winning time finished around one second ahead of CCS rivals Covenant College and Piedmont University.
Freshman
Mikayla Riccio, competing in her first collegiate competition flew to a school record and NCCAA qualifying height of 1.5 meters in the high jump. She followed that performance up by breaking the week-old school-record in the 60 meter dash with a time of 8.59 seconds.
In addition to sharing in the 4x400 record effort, freshman
Ambria Mack set a new school standard in the 60 meter hurdles, junior Brooke O'Carrol had a school record run in the 800 meter race, and sophomore
Kallee Cooper improved her long jump school best and added a record in the rarely run 300 meter event where she took down an ancient school record that had been set in the 2002 Asbury track and field season.
Emma Groff became the first event Asbury female student-athlete to compete in the pole vault event, thus establishing a new school standard with her best jump of the day at 2.55 meters.
August Price improved her previous record distance in the 20 lb. weight throw to 8.90 meters.
Several Asbury men's team student-athletes also etched their name into the record book.
Brendan Funke improved upon his own standards in the 16 lb. shot put and 35 lb. weight throw events to 13.92 meters and 12.61 meters respectively.
Austin Moreland shattered the school mark in the 300 meter race, and in one of the most exciting races of the day,
Drew Beedle ran 2:44.6 in the 1000 meter race to claim the record less than a second better than teammates,
Luke Holton,
Coleman Anderson, and
Jojo Ernst.
Asbury now has an indoor school-record in the pole vault, as
Lance Hylton became the first Asbury Eagle to take flight in that event, clearing the bar at 1.95 meters.
View Full Results Here
"This was a marathon day for the team, leaving campus at 9am and completing the meet at 7pm, but we had a great time! I love the enthusiasm and comradery of this group, and that is what is lifting us to these record performances. Brooke and Brendan are team captains and lead by example. Ambria just started at Asbury two weeks ago and is already loved by everyone. Drew is new to track, having played basketball last year, and his race completely shocked me. We may not have the depth we need this year to stay with some of the larger teams, but we have individuals that turn heads when they compete. To be finishing in the middle-of-the-pack team-wise in just the second year of indoor Asbury Track & Field competition says a lot for this group. We're going to get better this spring and believe the future is bright beyond this year."
Randy Crist | Head Cross Country Coach
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