The Lawrence University record books have once again been rewritten for Sam Stevens.
The junior from Suamico, Wis. snapped the 3,000m run record that had stood for 15 years with his time of 9:50.83. His run not only put him in the record books, but it also catapulted him atop the podium at last Friday’s UW-Oshkosh Titan Open.
A fiery competitor, Stevens was well aware of the record and was aiming to break it from the very beginning. “Talking to him before the race,” remarked Head Coach Jason Fast, “there was no way he wasn’t going to break the record.” Stevens was also on the distance medley relay last year that broke the school record. Showing his usual humility, he remarked, “It is cool breaking a record on my own, but to do it on a team is a huge thrill.”
Stevens’ race wasn’t the only excitement of the day. Fast was very impressed with the women’s team stating that, “we have people performing well in just about every event.” Notably, in the 5,000m run, senior standout Emily Muhs blazed to the front of the pack to take first in a time of 19:17. Also, senior Mallory Koula’s time of 8.46 in the 60m dash moves her up to 6th in the conference currently, and her time of 28.06 in the 200m dash garnered her third overall.
Building on her exciting start two weekends ago, freshman Anna Bolgrien took second in the 60m hurdles with her time of 10.09, and she grabbed fifth in the 200m dash with her time of 28.87. Junior Rose Tepper jumped to second place in the high jump with her leap of 4’11”, and freshman Sam Luebke took third overall with her 14’3″ long jump.
On the men’s side there were several pleasant surprises as well. Sophomore Mike Mangian shaved a full second off his personal best with his time of 2:00.12 in the 800m run. This time is the second fastest time ran yet this year by an athlete of Midwest Athletic Conference.
Also, back in the 3,000m run, freshman Kyle Dockery was breathing down Stevens’ neck with his time of 8:58, himself only missing the record by a mere five seconds. Senior Tom Coben ran to second place in the 5000m run with his time of 16:50.
The meet was an exciting step forward for the Vikings: On one hand, the upperclassmen leadership was present in the results, but on the other hand, the underclassmen had a presence.
Stevens summed up the mood best when he said, “It will also be exciting to see how long my record will stand, as… [Dockery] is constantly improving during his freshman year.” These younger leaders will be crucial for improvement during this and the following years.
The Vikings will once again travel to Stevens Point for the Pointer Invitational this weekend, Feb. 4-5.