More Record Fall As Track & Field Shines At Vulcan Invite

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The trio of freshman Michael Nicholls, freshman Kohi Brignac and sophomore Nick Schiro set school records in the men's 60-meter hurdles, women's weight and men's weight, respectively, and junior Alireza Rafiei won the shot put as the University of New Orleans track and field teams complete an action-packed weekend with a stellar effort at the Vulcan Invite on Saturday in the Birmingham CrossPlex.

All three record-setters surpassed school marks the trio established last week at the Purple Tiger Invitational. Nicholls surpasses his hurdles record of 8:11 with a preliminary time of 8:03 and finished sixth with a finals run of 8:05. Rafiei, meanwhile, won the shot put with a toss of 10.06 meters.

"We did pretty well," UNO head coach Benjamin Dalton said. "It was a lot like last week, actually, but it was good to see the team compete in back-to-back days. We had a lot of PRs and it was a lot fun. Traveling always makes it tough. It can be an eye opener and it's never easy. We obviously have a lot of room to grow. We're always trying to be technically perfect whether it's practice or competition. We have a lot of technical things we have to do, but that's good because that means we can improve in bulk."

In addition to the three record-setting performances, freshman Quintarius Queen posted personal records of 7:01 in the men's 60-meter dash and 23.71 in the men's 200, junior Clayton O'Callaghan followed suit with a 16:03.81 in the men's 5000 meters, and senior Rebecca Callaway did so with a 6:39.89 in the women's mile.

Rafiei win the shot put was one of 10 Top 10 performances by the Privateers. Junior Fadeke Adeola led the women's team with a sixth-place finish in the high jump (1.64 meters) and senior LaKayla LaFrance was tied for seventh in the event. Junior Emily Martinez finished eighth in the 5000 meters (19:53.47) and freshman Jordan Courtois was seventh in the pole vault (3.20 meters).

On the men's side, O'Callaghan's effort in the 5000 meters was good for fourth place, Nicholls was sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with his record-setting performance, and the junior tandem of Edmund Pine (4:39.86) and Jared Robertson (4:33.13) was seventh and eighth, respectively, in the mile. The UNO 4x400 relay team rounded out the Top 10 showings with a 10th-place finish.

"We just need to keep doing what we've been doing, really," Dalton added. "We need to keep working technically, keep refining and keep working on what we've already been working on. We just kind of entered the competition phase now and we're getting comfortable with that. I really am excited about how things have gone so far."

New Orleans returns to action on Jan. 31 when it hosts the Privateer Invitational in Birmingham before participating in the South Alabama Invitational on Feb. 7. The 2016 Southland Conference Indoor Championship is slated for Feb. 15-16.