NASHVILLE — It was a successful start to the 2024 indoor season for the University of Evansville track and field team at the Commodore Challenge. On the final day of the meet, the Purple Aces set five new program records after setting six the day before.
The Music City was singing for UE at the first meet of the indoor season, smashing multiple program records over the span of 48 hours. Runners Taylor Johnson (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz HS) and Nicole Prauchner (Neuhofen an der Ybbs, Austria BORGL St.Pölten) added two more individual records in the 400 and 800-meter races. While Samuel Lea (Worchester, England / Worchester Sixth Form College) set a record in the 3000 meters with a time of 8:31.79.
Evansville ended the weekend with two more program records in both the women’s and men’s 4×400 meter relays. The women’s team of Johnson, Prauchner, Eilen Brenne (Skien, Norway / Telemark Toppidrett Gymnas), and Nayla Martin (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada) broke the former record by over seven seconds at 4:03.37. While the men’s team of Austin Liversgowdy (Florence, Ky. / Cooper HS), Raymond Felton III (Houston, Clear Brook HS), Jose Ocampo (Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico), and Alvaro Monfort (Castile Y Leon, Spain / I.E.S. Alonso de Madrigal) shaved a second off the record from 2020 at 3:27.67.
“For this being our first meet with a young team, I’m very pleased with what I saw this weekend,” said Head Coach Brooks LeCompte following the Commodore Challenge. “This is a hungry group that wasn’t satisfied and wanted more out of themselves, which is a great sign. Our main goal was to come in, compete, and leave Nashville healthy. And for the most part, we accomplished just that!”
Along with five new program records on Saturday afternoon, several players set new personal records as well. In particular, the Aces throwers had a strong day in Nashville. Graduate student Zach Dove (Princeton, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) set a PR in the men’s shot put with a throw of 14.94 meters which was good for 9th at the meet and second among all program throwers. On the women’s side, both senior Brooke Springer (Henderson, Ky. / Henderson Community HS) and junior Kaitlyn Sansone (Fairfield, Ohio / Mercy McAtaley HS) set PRs in the shot put. Springer led the way throwing 9.56 meters to enter the Top 10 at second, while Sansone threw for 9.14 meters.
UE had multiple mile runners enter the Top 10 on Saturday as well. Junior Adam Oulgout (Saint Paul. Minn / Center HS) didn’t beat his PR set last season but had the program’s fourth-best mile run at 4:25.88. While on the women’s side, Martin ran a 5:10.02 mile for the fifth-best mile in program history. Freshman Kalina Urbaniak (Suchy Las, Poland) was right behind Martin with a 5:11.16 mile to enter the Top 10 at seventh.
Evansville’s mid-distance runners also had multiple Top 10 performances. Freshman Sonja Inzinger (Mautern an der Donau, Austria BORGL St.Pölten) had the program’s fourth-best 3000 meter run on the women’s side at 10:04.04. Graduate student Sarah Vanderhoof-Dossett finished behind Inzinger with a time of 10:54.26 for the fifth-best program run. On the men’s side, while Lea set the new record, Rafael Rodriguez (Segovia, Spain / Colegio Claret) finished just five seconds behind at 8:36.32 for the second-best 3000-meter men’s run by an Ace.
UE gets right back to work next week at the Indiana Invitational. The Invitational hosted by the Hoosiers will last two days on Jan. 19 and 20 at Gladstein Fieldhouse.
