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School Records in Jeopardy This Season

School Records in Jeopardy This Season:

Earlier in this series, we posted a listing of all updated school records, and we all know records were made to be broken. So the goal of this article is to put some records out there to follow as the year (or individuals’ careers) progresses that might be threatened.

The Returners (The Easy Picks)

Whenever a school record holder returns to compete, obviously their own record is under threat of being broken. Here is a quick list of returning school record holders:

• Hassan Omar – 3,000m & 5,000m
• Sarah Daly – 1,000m
• Yao Adantor – Shot Put
• Mercedes Jackson – 60m & 200m
• Paulette Fogle – 500m
• Women’s 4x400m – Fogle, Abbey, Phillips Returning
• Alisha Beeman – Heptathlon, High Jump

The New Kids 

Sometimes new athletes get to campus with accolades that suggest that they are in range of taking down the record with some natural progression. These may not happen this year, but these athletes could threaten school records for the length of their UMBC careers

• Victor Ivarsson comes to UMBC with a personal best record of 5,039 points (neglecting any differences of implements) in the heptathlon which would place him third on the UMBC list and within 200 points (a decent amount of points) of the school record
• Emma Gerhold enters college with a 11’7″ vault to her name with the current school record at 11′ 3.75″
• Valerie Johnson has gone 18′ 1″ in the long jump with a limited indoor season since she resided in Michigan. This put her less than 6″ from the current mark of 18’6.5″

The Individuals

While some of these athletes are farther off than others, there is a potential to see them make a run at the school record, whether it is this year over their remaining years

• Erick Soetje set the #5 All Time mark of 49.54, which puts him less than a second away from the all time mark of 48.57. However, in the fickle world of sprinting that second is a significant amount
• Thor Serafenas, already a school record holder in the hammer, could make one final run at the weight throw record with a inch or two over a foot to go
• Anytime you have five of the top ten women’s 400 meter performers, a top ten 500 meter performer, and a freshman and a transfer who would be on those lists with previous performances, there’s a better than average chance this record is threatened
• The women’s mile could see some threats by a trio of women who hold or nearly hold school records in other events. Watch for Sarah Daly, Sophia Cologer, and Angelina Oputa to put this record to the test over the last couple weeks of the season.

The Relays

Relays are tough because you need all four runners to click on the same day. However, sometimes the whole can be more than the sum of the parts and records fall

• The men’s 4x800m currently sits at 7:36.68; the best four times of members on the team add up to 7:39.38, despite the loss of Andrew Smith and Jake Albino we could see a run at it
• The men’s 4x400m record of 3:15.53 has been around for more than a decade. With a couple kids with 48.x’s to their name and a few with 49.x’s; we could see a renaissance in this event for the Retrievers over the next few years
• The women’s 4x800m and DMR are both going to be under assault by an assortment of a deep mid-distance group for the women. With many interchangeable parts at all legs, this could be the year that both fall and we see our first relays under 9 minutes in the 4×800 and under 12 minutes in the DMR.