Mokrasova & Saruni Break Records At Texas Relays

Related Articles

AUSTIN  – Lucia Mokrasova set the school record with 5,671 points in the heptathlon while freshman All-American Michael Saruni broke a meet standard to win the 800m at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum on Thursday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

“Lucy didn’t have the start that we wanted today, but I think she recovered well and finished strong to break her record from last year,” UTEP head coach Mika Laaksonen said. “She competed well and looks like she has a lot more left in the tank.”

Heading into day two of competition with 3,517 points, Mokrasova opened the day by leaping out to 5.30m (17-4.75) in the long jump, where she earned 643 points. She tallied 666 points after throwing for 39.94m (131-0).

After two events the junior notched 4,942 points and needed to run her time from a year ago (2:22.59) to tie her previous record of 5,615 points. The junior ran a 2:18.44 in the 800m to earn 845 points, breaking her previous record by 56 points.

Mokrasova finished in eighth place in a field of 23 and her total score ranks first in Conference USA.

The other big highlight of day two at the Texas Relays for UTEP Saruni’s star-studded performance. The Kenyan competed in the Invitational (including professionals) 800m run and finished by setting a Texas Relays meet record with the fastest time in the nation (1:48.82). In his heat was the 2012 Olympic silver medialist (Leonel Manzano) and the collegiate record holder (Donavan Brazier). Saruni will participate in the mile run scheduled for Saturday at 2:45 p.m. MT.

“Michael, what can you say a freshman running that times, considering the competition he faced,” Laaksonen said. “For him to come in and break the record is impressive.”

In the women’s Invitational 800m run, Lilian Koech finished in eighth place with a time of 2:11.42. She was the fourth collegiate athlete to finish.

Yanique Bennett clocked a time of 59.92 in the 400m hurdles on her way to a 20th-place finish in a field of 73. Teammate Dreshanae Rolle followed with a time of 1:00.23 to a 24th-place finish.

Cosmas Boit garnered a silver medal in the 1,500m run with a time of 3:49.90 and Daniel Cheruiyot clocked a 9:18.57 to finish in fifth place in the 3,000m steeplechase.

Winny Koech, Gladys Jerotich, Linda Cheruiyot and Antony Kosgei closed out the night in the 5,000m run. Koech (16:22.26) led the way to a gold-place finish with the fifth-fastest time in the nation, Cheruiyot (16:44.76) finished fourth and Jerotich (17:34.28) finished 17th overall. In the men’s race, Kosgei paced to a bronze showing with a time of 14:16.60.