This past Friday and Saturday, the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational.

The men’s team was dominant in several events.

During the final event of the weekend, the men’s mile relay recorded a time of 3 minutes, 20 seconds and 28 milliseconds. This time beat out the previous school record of 3:22 and was two-and-a-half seconds off of the NAIA national qualifying time.

The runners who rewrote the history books included Damir Lomax, Kanye Mills, Juan Barrera and Elijah James. This was a great way to build some momentum and a nice way to finish at the Carnegie Mellon meet.

The Pioneers thrived throughout the relay events, as the men placed third in the 4×100 race, with Dorian Boatswain, Lomax, Barrera and Akeem Mustapha running a time of 42.80.

The men’s 110 meter hurdles race resulted in a Pioneer victory, though it came down to the last tick on the clock. Freshman Kanye Mills took first place with a time of 14.95, beating the second place runner by .01 seconds.

Another Pioneer finished in the top ranks in the long jump. Akeem Mustapha finished second with a long jump of six meters and 61 centimeters.

Another notable score came from Maxwell Goode, who placed 11th in the long jump with 6.14m.

There were also three PRs, as Jordan Kullen paced at a time of 16:34 in the outdoor 5,000 meter race. Jannik Windelband and Ramiro Ulunque improved in the 1,500 meter race, which resulted in a pair of top 10 placements for the distance runners.

A highlight in the throwing events came from the impressive performance by Chevaughn Fletcher, who went on to lead the Pioneers in all four throwing events.

Fletcher placed ninth in discus (38.04m), fifth in shot put (14.51m) and 12th in hammer (43.03m).

Fletcher spoke about his preparation process leading up to his meets.

“Before the meet, I made sure to prepare well, visualize success, and stay confident. I wanted to throw each time just right and do my best in everything,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher also sets the bar high for himself before meets to motivate himself to pass his goals.

“I had personal goals heading into the meet, which included achieving specific distances in each throwing event,” Fletcher said. “I’m happy to say that I surpassed my goals in all four events, which I attributed to my focused preparation and determination during the competition. Also I surprised myself because I’m currently suffering from a hamstring injury.”

The women contributed impressive times in their races as well. Senior star Natalea Hillean finished second in 100 meter hurdles with a time of 15.07.

The excellence continued as the Pioneers had two racers finish in the top 10 of the 400 meter hurdles. Diamond Rush placed seventh with a 1:08.46 time, and Natalea Hillean ran a 1:09.39 time for ninth place.

The Pioneer women also performed well in the 3000 meter race and the 4×100 relay.

The 3000 meter race featured a fourth place finish by junior Sophia Lee-Hauser. In the 4×100 relay, Emma Roemer Rush, RaKeya Ellsberry and Mya Greschner finished with a time of 48.97 seconds for second place.

The long jump and high jump featured a pair of top three finishes from the Pioneers.

In the long jump, Roemer tied for second with Carnegie Mellon’s Elizabeth Barre at 5.13m. The high jump had Pioneer Emma Pavelek finishing in third place at 1.53m. Pavelek would also get a top 10 finish with her javelin throw of 30.17m for tenth place, and her freshman teammate Lina Single placed fifth with 34.72m.

The womens’ and mens’ next meet will be on April 5 at the George Mason Dalton Ebanks Invitational in Fairfax, VA.

The Pioneers will then compete the following day at the Western PA Collegiate Championships.