Eutectics Smash Six School Records to Open the Indoor Track and Field Season
BLOOMINGTON, ILL. - The Eutectic men's and women's track and field teams opened up the indoor season on Saturday with six record-breaking performances at the Titan First Chance Meet hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill. With the addition of quite a few new athletes to the Eutectic roster, the team was eager to turn in the first marks of the season and check their progress after fall workouts. As it turns out, five of the six records were broken by newcomers to the team, competing in their first collegiate race as a Eutectic.
The Eutectics picked up quite a few sprinters in this year's recruiting class who boasted fast times from high school. Leading the pack on Saturday, with two new school records, was freshman Leah Macon-Ford in the 60m and 200m Dashes. The Eutectic 200m Dash record of 29.10 has been on the books since Grace Noble set it back in 2013. On Saturday, Macon-Ford demolished the 11-year-old record by nearly two seconds, crossing the finish line at 27.33 for eighth place of 27 runners. She wasted no time in breaking the UHSP record in the 60m Dash either, smashing teammate Taylor Washington's record of 8.43 with a prelim time of 7.90 to qualify for the finals with the third-fastest time of 20 competing on Saturday. In the finals, she improved her own newly established record by shearing off 0.13 seconds and finishing at 7.77 – good enough for second place at the meet.
Junior and two-time Conference Champion Taylor Washington has returned this season to continue her dominance in the high jump and hurdles. On Saturday, she beat out ten other jumpers to win the High Jump with a leap of 1.55m (5'01"), clearing the bar on her first attempt at the height. She ran the fastest prelim time (9.53) of 13 hurdlers in the 60m Hurdles to qualify for the finals, then improved her time to 9.48 in the finals to finish .05 seconds behind the first-place finisher from Illinois College. Junior Mariah Scott also qualified for the finals, finishing in seventh place at 10.40. Freshman Adison Plazek and sophomore Paulina Gutierrez-Trejo joined Washington and Scott on the Eutectic Top-5 list for the event with Plazek at 10.56 and Gutierrez-Trejo at an new personal-best time of 10.75.
Three Eutectic sprinters broke the school record of 48.52 in the 300m Dash set by Payton Burke last season. Burke was one of those three, improving on her record with a new time of 46.94, followed closely by freshman Victoria Renteria at 47.95. But, it is freshman Emerald Flores who will now hold the top spot in the Eutectic record books as she finished with a time of 46.10 for 10th place.
Flores and Renteria were also part of the UHSP record-breaking 4x400m Relay team consisting of all freshman. They were joined by Laia Wells and Whitney Auguste to finish with a time of 4:33.34, breaking the school record set in 2022 of 4:34.00.
Renteria led the pack of three Eutectic runners in the 600m Dash, including Laila Wells and Flores, who all made the Eutectic Top-5 list for the event. Renteria's time of 1:53.02 took fifth (of 12) at the meet and drops her as No. 2 on the Eutectic All-Time list. Wells was right behind her at 1:53.26 for 6th and No. 3, and Flores finished in 8th at 1:55.54 for No. 5 in the books.
Sophomore and All-Conference thrower Elizabeth Fritzler improved on her own school record of 11.93 (39'1.75") in the Shot Put. In her very first throw of Saturday's competition, she put down a mark of 12.10m (39'8.5") to rewrite the record books and qualify for the finals. That mark held strong to earn her second place of 27 throwers competing in the event.
On the men's side, all three UHSP pole vaulters broke the school record of 2.94m (9'7.75") set by Grant Crutcher in 2016. Freshman Brett Bushue cleared the bar at 3.55m (11'7.75") on his first attempt to set a new school mark and finish sixth of 16 vaulters. Freshman Ethan Arnoldi and senior Brock Beins also bested the previous record, both clearing 3.40m (11'1.75") with Arnoldi finishing just ahead of Beins due to fewer misses.
Freshman Kristofer St. Clair qualified for the finals of the Shot Put with a mark of 12.39m, then improved on that with a toss of 12.54m (41'1.75") to finish ninth of 30 throwers and become the third-best Indoor Shot Putter in Eutectic history.
Jack Wolfe ran a personal best at the meet with a time of 5:08.70 in the Mile Run.
With the first meet behind them, the Eutectics will take a break from competition over the semester break, returning to compete at the Friday Night Spikes Opener hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., on Jan. 17, 2025.
