COLUMBIA, Mo.- Gonzaga Track had another successful meet day on Saturday, setting new personal bests at the Rick McGuire Invite and the Inland NW Invitational.
Six of the seven Zags that competed in Missouri at the Rick McGuire Invite set a new personal record. Logan Schwartz moved into fourth on the all time fastest 3k times after a 7:58.32 race. He was joined by Ryan Mitchell, who reached fifth all time with a time of 7:59.65, and Logan Law, who clocked the seventh all time 3k time in 8:03.00. Caden Swanson and Gus Clevenger also ran career best times of 8:11.99 and 8:14.95 respectively.
Coach Pat Tyson described the race, the first ever meet in which two Zags broke 8 minutes in the same run, as "one of the greatest overall 3000 meter races in Gonzaga history" and a testament to how each runner "showed a lot of grit" to run the remarkable times.
Hayden Roberts continued to improve in the middle distance, moving into tenth on the all time program finishes in the mile with a final time of 4:06.62. Competing in a stacked national field, Roberts managed to run a very aggressive race to continue to cut down on his times and improves in the midst of his sophomore indoor season.
The Zags that stayed in Spokane to take on the Inland Northwest Invitational continued to improve as well. Anika Jones had the top Zag finish in the women's mile, running a time of 5:06.74, a new career best. Sydney Backman moved into 6th all time in GU in the 200 meters, running a personal best 27.16. Olivia Ferraro ran another career best time, taking fourth overall in the 800 meters after finishing in 2:17.43.
Gonzaga Track will return to competition next week at The Podium, taking on the Riverfront Invitational & Multis. The meet will run over several days, with the first events set to take place on Thursday.
