Bethel indoor track breaks four school records at Wilson Invitational
Paulino, Roman, Schmidt, and Schrag broke records over the weekend.
WICHITA — On Friday and Saturday the indoor track and field teams competed for the third time this indoor season at the Wilson Invitational at Wichita State University where they would break four school records.
Starting on Friday, Bethel put up big performances. Bethany Schrag broke a school record in the women’s 5,000 meter run with a time of 19:50.58 and smashed the old record by over a minute. Marcus Fielder beat the school record in the men’s 5,000 meter run but was 2nd to Luke Schmidt who set the new school record with a time of 16:26.25.
“It was fun to get a shot at getting a record,” said Schmidt from Newton. “I’m definitely wanting to try and improve on it later in the season but excited for how the team is doing and looking forward to more meets as the season continues.”
During the Saturday races, Taryn Paulino ran a time of 2:30.28, taking 2nd in the 800 meter run and taking the school record. The final broken record of the weekend belonged to Mia Roman, who ran a school record time of 3:13.38 in the 1,000 meter as she finished 9th.
“In my opinion the team is competing at a very high level and the energy of the team has been amazing,” said Paulino from Bennington. “We show up to meets ready to compete and support each other. No one should feel like they're running alone, and I feel like the team makes sure of that.
Competition wise, we as a team have absolutely shattered this season so far. Multiple records broken, PR’s all around, it's just been amazing. We are catching that attention from others and that's a statement for a small team.”
Head coach Aaron Stallsworth felt comfortable enough to compete this weekend and it looked to be a good thing as the Threshers rolled out of Wichita State with a bunch of new records and personal bests looking forward.
“I’m proud of the team and how they performed this weekend,” Stallsworth said. “It’s great to see us continue to update the record books with these performances. I’m very excited for us to continue to train hard and carry this momentum with us through the next few weeks as we begin prepping for our Indoor Conference Meet in February.”
As the indoor season is coming to an end soon, both Thresher squads will compete at Washburn University in Topeka at the Washburn Open on Saturday to look to continue their hot streak.