TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – For the fourth meet in as many tries this season, the University of Evansville track and field team rewrote the record book on Saturday, as graduate student J.J. Pedersen (Milford, Conn./Platt Tech) and senior Taiza Alexander (Berea, Ky./Berea Community) both set new school records at the Indiana State Open in Terre Haute.
Pedersen beat the UE indoor school record in the 3,000-meter event by over six seconds, as he placed third overall with a time of 8:48.59. Alexander, meanwhile, tied her own indoor school record in the long jump with a distance of 5.15 meters. Overall, Evansville set 14 different individual personal-best marks at the meet as well.
“Overall, I thought that we did a great job today across the board,” said UE track and field head coach Don Walters. “We have been stressing the importance of teamwork all week, and the team really bought in today and were pulling for each other, and it helped big time.
“J.J. was outstanding in his race today, and really smashed the old school record. And, I thought that Taiza was locked in today and jumped really well. Those are good signs with the conference championships coming up next weekend.”
Pedersen led a group of six men to PR on Saturday with his third-place finish in the 3,000-meters.  Senior Joey Rucinski (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran) set a new personal standard in the pole vault with a height of 4.37 meters, while placing fourth. Junior sprinter Giovanni Purser (Port Maria, Jamaica) ran a personal-best 60-meter time of 7.10 to advance to the main finals. Sophomore Peter Epur (Eldoret, Kenya) set a new standard in the mile with a time of 4:30.73, and freshmen Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn./Central) and Justin Nichols (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Orange) turned in personal-best performances in the 800-meters (2:00.30) and 3,000-meters (9:57.99), respectively.
On the women’s side, eight PRs were set, led by Alexander tying the school record in the long jump. Senior Skylar Tucker (Linton, Ind./Linton-Stockton) set indoor PR marks in both the long jump (5.07 meters) and the 200-meters (27.71). Senior McKenna Sapp (Bloomington, Ill/University) turned her fastest 60-meter dash time of 8.47, while junior Mariah Schaefer (Columbia City HS) recorded her indoor-best mark in the pole vault of 3.08 meters. Junior Claire Griffy (Salem, Ill./Salem Community) lowered her personal-best time in the mile, while freshman Kara Yunker (Evansville, Ind./North) turned in personal-best performances in both the 60- (8.45) and 200-meter (29.17) races.
Overall, the UE men placed fifth and the women placed sixth at the Indiana State Open. The Purple Aces will return to action next on Sunday, February 27, when UE opens competition at the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.
