Track and field at The Master’s University had a record-breaking afternoon at the Moorpark Season Opener Friday in Moorpark. The team had 19 top-five marks in school history and five school records.

The Mustang throwers continued to excel, with four new school records from Eli Szumera in the javelin, Katie Boggess in the discus, Domenic Grinceri in the discus and Brianna Ironside in the hammer. Josh Williamson hit the NAIA Indoor B Standard, becoming the first TMU thrower to ever qualify for the Indoor Championships.

Szumera, the 2023 GSAC champion in the javelin, threw 61.13m (200′ 6 1/2″), which was a personal best of over eight meters. This throw would have earned him a sixth-place finish at the NAIA championships and was a breakthrough throw for the senior.

In the sprints, TMU continued to improve with 10 personal bests. Freshman Juliette Colunga convincingly won both her heats of the 60m by more than half-a-second, and the 200m by over a second. The Mustang women’s 4x400m relay team of Suzie Johnson, Rebekah Niedanagel, Hannah Fredericks and Ellen Palmgren, took the victory with a time of 4:04, which was one second off the school record.

“We just wanted to have fun and run as one for the glory of the Lord,” Palmgren said. “He blessed us with a great time, just barely off the school record and a couple of seconds away from qualifying. Overall, the Lord gave us a great day to worship Him, and to Him be the glory.”

The TMU women dominated the distance events with a Mustang in second place in the 3000m, first, third, fourth and fifth place in the 1500m, and first, second and third in the 600m

The distance men’s squad was highlighted by senior Zach Garey, who won the 1500m in 3:58 and set the school record in the 600m run of 1:23.6. Garey also came back at the end of the meet to drop a 52-second leg on the 4x400m relay. Senior Brint Laubach won his heat, leading wire to wire, in the 3000m and grabbed an A standard. Connor Ybarra also qualified for Indoor nationals by achieving a personal best of over 20 seconds in the 3000m to hit the B standard mark.

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