The Harding track and field women’s team is wrapping up its indoor season. Now, they are preparing to begin their season outdoors. The team travelled to Oklahoma on Feb. 22 to compete in the Great American Conference Indoor Classic. They have 11 more meets left as outdoor season opens.
Sophomore heptathlete Darcy Sanford said the team’s indoor success has prepared the team for the outdoor season.
“Indoor is basically just gearing up for outdoor,” Sanford said. “Outdoor is really what matters and outdoor conference is what we pretty much work for the whole year. So indoor is great and all, but now it’s time to really get after it and really get ready for what really matters, which is outdoor.”
Sanford also broke a school pentathlon record at the conference meet, becoming the first Lady Bisons athlete to ever break 3,000 points in the event.
“I did the pentathlon last year and I did not break it,” Sanford said. “And so ever since then that has basically been my driving force, of knowing I can do it. So, I had one shot this year to do the pentathlon and break it, and I did it. I’ve pretty much been thinking about it ever since last year, so I’m really excited about it.”
Junior multi-athlete Emily Shell broke the school record in triple jump at the conference meet. She said she was not aware she had broken the record when she finished her jump.
“We actually thought that I was three centimeters under the record,” Shell said. “Then we looked online after the meet and saw that I had actually broken the record. That was really exciting.”
Freshman Cooper Monn also broke the Harding shot put record with a toss of 12.84 meters, almost a full meter farther than the previous record. The meet was Monn’s first in her college career.
Harding finished second at the conference meet behind Oklahoma Baptist Univeristy. The Lady Bisons continue their outdoor season March 15 at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
