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Besides Lauren Merritt being named Female SA of the Year, some of our other TrackBears have been doing very well. I believe Lauren has set new school marks in the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m this season and ahs been a part of record setting distance relays.

Donavan Loring continues to excel in the Triple Jump. Most recently he took 3rd at the Missouri State Big Bear Invite with a hop, skip and jump of 15.17m, or about 49" 6". He is pretty consistently in the 49-50' range and has a personal best of a bit over 50'. This is a big league mark. Top D1 jumpers do about 55" but 50" is very good. The NCAA D1 qualifying mark is 15.0m.

Sophomore Courtney Alexander was 3rd at the Northwestern State Invite in the men's 110m high hurdles with a very credible time of 14.69. NCAA D1 qualifying time is 14.30 (this is basically one brushed hurdle away).

FR Matt Mason (from Alma) began to come into his own with a 5th place finish in the men's 800m run at the TCU Invite where he ran 1:57.

Last but not least is Lori Garside, the jumper from Gentry, AR. Lori puts in good marks in the triple jumps and long jump but her forte is the high jump. She won the TCU Invite at 5' 5" and won the Northwestern meet at 5' 7". However, she took 2nd the Big Bear Invite where she set the school record at 5' 8" (1.73m). The NCAA D1 qualifying mark is 1.75m.

Thanks to all of our track athletes and coaches...building a program from scratch is not easy at D1 level as the competition is fierce and unforgiving. Lori and Donavan are already at D1 level marks setting great example for others.