The Bears are running to new heights this track season. The team has set five new school records in two weeks.
Liam Johnston, 26’ broke the school record for the indoor mile with a time of 4:15.42 at the Rutgers Scarlet Knight Open. He finished fifth overall in the race. The previous record was held by Johnston with a time of 4:17.73, which was set in 2024. Johnston holds the school record for the indoor 3000 meter with a time of 8:42.90.
Mitchell Davis, 28’ set the indoor pole value record with a cleared jump of 4.94 meters at the Rutgers Scarlet Knight Open. This is the third meet in which Davis has set the school record. He had previously jumped 4.80 meters at the Collegeville Classic on January 19th, and then set it with 4.90 meters at Franklin and Marshall College on January 25th.
Rainah Dunham, 25′ set two new records, one for indoor long jump with 5.83 meters and indoor triple jump with 12.50 meters at the Widener Evening Invite. She currently holds the top spot for Division 3 for triple jump. She held the previous records with 5.68 in long jump and 12.04 in triple jump. Both records were set in 2024. Dunham won the 2024 Division 3 National Championship for long jump with a jump of 5.98 meters. She is Ursinus’ first women’s Track & Field national champion and the school’s first individual champion since 1989.
Dunham shared her mental strategies while racing, “A lot of focus. Focus on my mental, focus on my body, focus on speed and endurance, focus on strength, focus on technique, focus on recovery and focus on hydration. Most importantly focus on practice. Because what you do there is how you will perform at the meet. Everything I do is in the image of God.”
Meghan Carroll, 25’ broke the indoor 600 meter record with a time of 1:42.94 at the Collegeville Classic. She held the previous record with a time of 1:43.77, which she set in 2023. Johnston, Dunham, and Carroll are not new to the record holder title. They all have broken their own records from previous years.
Davis has made a strong impression in his first year and will continue to be a force to reckon with in pole vault.
“It was great being able to take down the school record and put my name up on the wall, but I did sort of know this was going to happen sooner rather than later since over the summer I jumped 4.80. This was still a major achievement, and it makes me happy to be able to do my part for the team. This is definitely a step in the right direction in achieving my overall goals on the year and there is defiantly more to come.”
Breaking school records is not an accomplishment that all athletes get to experience. These record breakers commented on the rigorous mental and physical preparation that goes into being a record holder. Each athlete has their own way of getting into the right headspace to be a record breaker.
Johnston shared his night-before superstitions, “The night before a meet, I always eat a cup of beef ramen noodles and 17 pieces of Sour Patch Strawberry while watching The Lion King.”
Meanwhile, Dunham “..stay[s] locked in so I do not have to get locked in. This starts during preseason. I always say what you do at practice translates in the meets. So telling myself I trust in my abilities and in the work I have put in to be able to go out and put up some numbers is how I prepare myself for meets.”
“It means everything to me. Setting new precedents for our program and inspiring others to reach new heights is the goal. Records are meant to be broken. And this is just the beginning of something great.”