Exhaustion quickly turned into shock for sophomore Grayson Masterson after running the 3200m run at the De Soto Invitational. Not only did he set a new personal best time at 9:47, he had broken the school record.
“I went into the race not even thinking it was on the table. I mean that was a PR by 21 seconds,” Masterson said.
Masterson contributed to the five school records recently tied or broken by track and field athletes.
Faced with one of their hardest meets of the season, several Cardinals rewrote history.
So far this season, the track teams have broken records on the boys and girls teams, but also in the four major categories: sprints, long distance, jumps and throws.
“It shows how varied our athletes are,” head coach MaryJo Swann said. “It’s fun to see a little bit in every realm.”
Junior Cameren Tice had already set the school record in the 100m at the ESU relays earlier this season with a time of 10.80. Tice beat his record by a hundredth of a second Friday and tied the school record in the 200m at 22.24.
“Honestly, I’m just happy to be healthy again,” Tice said. “I missed all of last season due to hamstring strains and tears. But I put in the work, did the physical rehab and it’s starting to pay off.”
The Cardinals were not just making history on the track, but were excelling in field events also.
Junior Brenika Rader eclipsed her own record in high jump at 5-7.
“It’s kind of a disbelief because you’re in the moment, you don’t have time to enjoy it,” Rader said. “When you finally land on the mat and see the bar still there, I just, like, get up screaming. Everybody’s jumping and their adrenaline was just crazy.”
Senior Brady Von Holten broke his own school record in discus again at the ESU relays with a throw of 167-6.
He first broke the record as a junior. The previous record had been held since 1984. The record was broken moments before a massive storm.
“Last year, we had a huge wind,” Van Holten said. “Everybody threw far, right before the storm. Tornado sirens were going off. It was great.
This year, Von Holten surpassed his mark without wind assistance to put aside any skepticism of the record.
As the season nears its end, continuing to improve will be vital for the Cardinals’ hopes at the state meet.
“In track and field, beating yourself is the first goal,” Swann said. “Getting the record isn’t the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is how good we can be and never backing off.”
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