SOUTH BEND, Ind. – You might say that Sarah Brandt and her Golden Eagle teammates were focused Saturday at the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame.
Mixing it up with some of the most successful women's track & field programs in the nation, Brandt set an individual school record at 800m and ran the anchor leg on Tech's 4x400m relay team which also knocked a second off the previous school record.
Running against the best seemed to bring out the best in coach Wayne Angel's squad, which set two school records Friday night and two more Saturday, and narrowly missed another. Tech runners also set a couple of personal best times, efforts which are getting tougher and tougher to achieve as the Golden Eagles put up numbers every week that are a challenge to beat.
Brandt, a junior from Oroville in mid-northern California, circled the track in 2:11.00 to break the school standard at 800m, a record that teammate D'Airrien Jackson set in December at Vanderbilt. Brandt finished 14th overall individually in the event.
About three hours later, Brandt stepped onto the track for the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay. She was scheduled to run the fourth leg of the race, following three Golden Eagle freshmen. It proved to be a perfect combination for Tech, snipping one second off the school record that had been set at Vanderbilt on December 5.
Na'Asha Robinson ran the leadoff leg, followed by Jackson and Crystal Leibenberg, with Brandt finishing up. Their time of 3:48.29 was just quick enough to erase the time of 3:49.69 recorded by Robinson, Jaydean Joseph, Tiara Hymon and Jackson.
Robinson narrowly missed a fifth school record, finishing sixth overall in the 400-meter dash in 54.50 seconds. She holds the record of 54.14 seconds.
She was joined in the 400m race by Jackson and Leibenberg. Jackson was 21st overall in 56.20 seconds, while Leibenberg established her personal best with a time of 59.01 in her first running of the event as a Golden Eagle.
Another personal best that was clocked Saturday came in the 800m race when Madison Stremler ran a 2:14.73.
Meanwhile, at the other end of a neighboring state, two Golden Eagles competed Saturday at the Don DeNoon Invitational at Southern Illinois University.
Freshman Currin Washington made her Tech debut, establishing personal best times in the 200m and 400m races. She ran a time of 1:07.55 to finish 29th at 400m, and placed 25th overall at 200m in 29.10 seconds
Saturday at the Meyo Invitational / Notre Dame
3,000m – Purity Murray - DNS
400m – Na'Asha Robinson - 54.50 (6th overall)
400m – D'Airrien Jackson – 56.20 (21st overall)
400m - Crystal Liebenberg – 59.01 (62nd overall) PR
800m – Sarah Brandt – 2:11.00 [school record] (14th overall)
800m – Madison Stremer – 2:14.73 (50th overall) PR
4x400m relay – 3:48 [school record] (13th overall)
(Na'Asha Robinson, D'Airrien Jackson, Crystal Leibenberg, Sarah Brandt)
Saturday at the DeNoon Ivitatational / SIU
High jump - NaScottisha Drummond - NH
400m - Currin Washington – 1:07.55 (29th overall) PR
200m – Currin Washington - 29:10 (25th overall) PR
