Three School Records Fall at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational

FINAL RESULTS

NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans distance runners broke three school records, and set 11 personal bests after another exceptional outing at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational on Saturday.

Jaden Forester kicked things into high gear for the Privateers early Saturday morning with a 4:04.54 time in the men's mile - breaking his own school record of 4:09.65 set in January at the Samford Invitational. The California native finished in 10th place out of 61 runners, and now owns the top two mile marks in the Southland this season. Forester's new school record currently ranks as the sixth best time in the South Central Region.

Alexandra Weir kept the momentum going crushing the school record for the women's 3,000 meters with a time of 9:28.80 and a sixth place finish out of 45 runners. Weir's time was seven seconds better than the previous record set by Privateer legend Radka Holubova in 2001, and was a remarkable 21 second improvement on her previous personal best in the event.

The third school record of the day fell when Kolyn Saltzman broke his own men's 3,000 meter record set in last season's Southland Indoor Championships with a time of 8:19.58. Saltzman finished 13th overall out of 53 competitors, and now owns the best 3,000 meter time by a Southland runner this season, and ranks 23^rd in the South Central Region.

Earlier in the afternoon Kelvin Chiku, originally set to run in the mile, finished his 800 meter run with a personal best 1:52.35 - the best time in the event by a Southland Conference student-athlete so far this season, and a new personal best. The Zimbabwe native's time is just outside of a top 10 mark in the South Central Region, and was just two seconds short of Parker McBride's school record set last season.

Several Privateers made major improvements on their personal bests on Saturday as well with Rebecca DeKay improving 14 seconds on her personal best in the 3K, Tshwanelo Maruping shaving 14 seconds off of her best time in the 3K, and Anna Martin showing a nine second improvement in the women's mile.

UP NEXT
The entire New Orleans Track and Field squad will reunite for another trip to Birmingham, Ala and the Birmingham Crossplex for the Samford Bulldog Invite on Feb 10 and 11. Information on live results will become available later this week, and fans can follow along on @PrivateersTFX on Twitter for updates as well.

PRIVATEER RESULTS
Women's Mile
33 Anna Martin 5:00.24 (personal best)
34 Irene Bonanomi (personal best)

Men's Mile
10 Jaden Forester 4:04.54 (school record)
42 Cade Litolff 4:15.79

Men's 800
17 1:52.35 Kelvin Chiku (personal best)

Women's 3000M
6 Alexandra Weir 9:28.80 (school record)
23 Rebecca DeKay 10:01.23 (personal best)
26 Tshwanelo Maruping 10:04.12 (personal best)
27 Ariana Jimenez 10:06.37
32 Mathilde Helms-Kjaer 10:10.13 (personal best)

Men's 3000M
13 Kolyn Saltzman 8:19.58 (school record)
24 Jaden Forester 8:24.66 (personal best)
37 Ryan Guenthner 8:34.71 (personal best)
41 Javier Montero Castillejo 8:41.58
42 Evan Pardo 8:42.41

HEAD COACH BROCK MOREAUX
"I was really pleased with the races today. We'll walk away with three school records, three Conference leading marks, and 12 marks that will now sit in the top eight in Southland. I also love these types of travel trips because we get the chance to bond as a group, so that was fun to watch too. I'd call it a successful weekend."

SOCIAL MEDIA
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