San Antonio – Trinity's track & field teams put an exclamation point on the first day of the UIW Invitational by breaking two school records on Friday.

Kierra Francois (Rosharon, Texas / Arlington) took down a 20-year-old record in the women's hammer throw, while Tanner Lacy (Oak Ridge North, Texas / Oak Ridge) tied a school record in the men's pole vault that was first established in 2003.

Francois threw 41.75 meters in Friday's competition, which bests the mark of 41.45 meters set by Erin Harrigan in 2001. Lacy cleared 4.75 meters to finish in a tie for third at the meet this evening, equaling the mark of Adam Crouch 18 years ago.

Other Field Highlights

Emma Pool (Columbus, Ohio / Upper Arlington) won the women's pole vault by reaching 3.30 meters, moving her to fourth in school history, and besting her previous personal record by 0.10 meters.

Maggie Nava (San Antonio, Texas / Holy Cross) moved into 10th place on Trinity's record book with her throw of 10.62 meters in the shot put. Francois and Emma Ross (Kansas City, Kan. / Shawnee Mission South) also set new personal bests in the event.            On the men's side, Robert Slaybaugh (Missouri City, Elkins) threw a season-long 13.38 meters in the shot.

In addition to the record broken by Francois in the hammer, Nava also recorded a personal record in the event.

Sean Majors (Fredericksburg, Texas / Fredericksburg) finished second in the men's long jump with a mark of 7.28 meters – just 0.07 from tying the school record he set in the first meet of the season. Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek) reached 6.10 meters for his new collegiate-best mark.

Track Highlights

There were five Tigers competing in the 400-meter hurdles on Friday and each of them set a new personal record in the event. Seve Rodriguez (Waimea, Hawaii / La Canada) led the way on the men's side by beating his previous best by 0.13 seconds, improving his eighth-place time in the Trinity record book. Avery Puig (Laredo, Texas / Alexander) was the lone Trinity contender on the women's side, running in 1:08.47 for a new personal-best.

Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel) moved into 10th on the Tiger record books for the event with a time of 56.68 seconds. Patrick Green (Shiner, Texas / St. Paul) and Kyle Anderson (Cave Creek, Ariz. / Cactus Shadows) also set new individual records.

In addition to his long jump accomplishment, Grigsby also ran a team-best 23.09 seconds for a new personal record in the 200-meter dash on Friday. Marco Boisselier (El Paso, Texas / Coronado) was just 0.05 seconds from a PR of his own in the race.

On the women's side of the 200, all four Trinity runners hit new personal-bests. Jordyn White (St. Louis, Mo. / Lutheran North) led the way after winning her flight in a time of 26.80 seconds. Danya Selber (Edinburg, Texas / Robert Vela), Sealan Ledat (Richardson, Texas / Richardson), and Aliya Jackson (Houston, Texas / Shadow Creek) all raced under 29 seconds in the event and established new times to beat.

The distance runners had 10 new personal records in the 1500-meter run, as well as four more in the 5,000-meter run.

Ellie Catron (Spring, Texas / The Woodlands Christian) paced the women's 1500 with her time of 4:51.35, which is just 0.25 seconds from 10th on Trinity's all-time list. Also hitting new personal-record times were Madison Habeck (Lake Jackson, Texas / Clute Brazoswood), Anna King (San Antonio, Texas / Reagan), and Maria Nowlin (Austin, Texas / St. Michael's) on the women's side.

The men had six of its seven competitors improve their individual records. Joseph Hermes (Houston, Texas / Houston Christian), Rushil Desai (Houston, Texas / St. Pius X), David Buss (Frisco, Texas / Liberty), Joey Burrhus (Fulshear, Texas / Fulshear), Caden Erickson (Holdrege, Neb. / Holdrege), and Jacob Ontiveros (El Paso, Texas / El Paso) all achieved the feat.

Jordan Juran (Littleton, Colo. / Chatfield) led the way with a time of 18:25.25 in the women's 5K, finishing fourth in Friday's competition. Elaine Kaster (Lewisville, Texas / Founders Classical) was just behind her teammate in fifth place with a time of 18:29.57. Both were new personal bests. Ardi Saunders (Coppell, Texas / New Tech) and Maia Dykstra (Clarkston, Wash. / Asotin) also had new personal records. While Keaton Holt (Portland, Ore. / Grant) didn't break his personal best, he did finish in a season-best time of 15:48.94 on the men's side.

Coach Speak

"I can't remember the last time we had two school records fall in a day," said Head Coach Marcus Whitehead. "Obviously Kierra and Tanner highlighted the evening, but we had personal bests in every event arena. We need to keep this momentum going into day two."

Up Next

Both Tiger teams will continue competing at the UIW Invitational tomorrow on the campus of the University of the Incarnate Word.