Sophomore Kayla Pratt broke UTSA's 14-year-old 5,000 meters record on Friday night.
NEW YORK CITY — Sophomore Kayla Pratt broke a 14-year-old school record in the 5,000 meters and freshman Zaquita McClanahan eclipsed an 18-year-old standard in the shot put to highlight day-one action for the UTSA women’s track and field team at the prestigious New Balance Invitational.
Pratt raced to a 17:23.21 clocking on the famed Armory Track & Field Center oval to win the college division ahead of Rachel Forcino of American, who crossed in 17:30.44. The Del Rio native’s time bettered Meg Harris’ former school record of 17:23.45 established in 1996.
Meanwhile, McClanahan measured 13.94 meters (45-9) in the shot put to finish 10th in a field of 61 athletes. That marked an 18-centimeter improvement from her previous personal-best of 13.76m posted two weeks ago at the Texas Tech Invitational and broke the former program record of 13.79m set by Kim Bush in 1992.
The distance medley relay team nearly joined in on the school record-setting evening with a runner-up performance late Friday. The quartet of senior Dana Mecke, sophomore Rebecca Crain, junior Jayde James and senior Pernilla Savestrand passed the baton to a time of 11:53.66 for second behind Hampton (11:50.18) and just ahead of Houston (11:54.39). That time ranks second on UTSA’s all-time list behind an 11:49.57 posted in 2004.
The two-day meet concludes on Saturday.