The Bison’s track teams competed in two meets March 30- 31, located at Washington University and Lindenwood University in St. Louis. Head coach Steve Guymon said he anticipated Lincoln University would be Harding’s greatest competitor at the meet on Friday.
Guymon said the team has spent most of its energy preparing for the upcoming Great American Conference on April 19.
“We do not work particularly for just this meet,” Guymon said. “What we are trying to do is reach the goal of being prepared for the conference in April.”
Guymon said practice varies depending on the event that each member of the team participates in.
The meet on Friday was an invitation at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Saturday’s meet was hosted at Lindenwood University in St. Charles.
At the Washington University meet, two of the four Harding runners broke personal records. Senior Kirstie Smith, a 5K and 10K runner on the team, was one of the runners who got a personal record.
Smith came in 12th place in the 10K race.
She said despite it being her senior year, she will still have a year of eligibility to run for the team an additional year.
Senior Lucas Goodspeed also competed in the Washington University track meet and came in ninth. Goodspeed has been a part of the team since his freshman year and runs the 5K and 10K distance events.
Goodspeed said there were no school records broken during this meet, but he and Smith ran their personal bests during Friday’s meet.
“I had a good race,” Goodspeed said. “I dropped my 5K personal best by nearly 20 seconds. Kirstie Smith also ran a personal best in the 10K by about 20 seconds.”
Goodspeed said the meet on Saturday did not have as many personal best times, but the individuals on the team competed well and Josiah Baker had a great finish in the 1,500 meters.
The track team has completed various achievements throughout the season. During the recent meet, the women’s track team won the John Greer invitational.
