LOS ANGELES (May 6, 2017) – For nearly a half-century, Jeff Bennett's school record of 51.44 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles has stood, lasting so long it frankly surprised Oklahoma Christian's current assistant track and field coach.

For three years, OC standout Landon Huslig has been trying to surpass Bennett, and he finally did so on Saturday, finishing in 51.30 seconds in Oxy Invitational, hosted by Occidental (Calif.) at Bill Henry Track.

"I watched the race, and he was spot on," said Bennett, who has expected that Huslig would break his record at some point. "We have been encouraging him all spring. It was time for that record to fall. I still have one record on the books (in the decathlon)."

Huslig, a junior from Edmond, finished fourth in the 21-man field at the meet, but second among collegians, behind only a hurdler from Brigham Young. Huslig's time was the sixth-best by an NCAA Division II athlete this season in the 400-meter hurdles.

Bennett set his former 400-meter hurdles mark during the 1968 outdoor season. Now only three OC outdoor school records remain from the 1960s – in the 100 meters (Tom Griffith, 10.29 seconds in 1968), the 4x200-meter relay (1:25.24 in 1966) and the 4x400-meter relay (3:11.12 in 1966). Bennett set his near-untouchable decathlon record of 8,072 points in 1970.

The school record is the second for Huslig, who (along with teammates Sawyer Pehkonen, Joshua Jones and Jalen Brown) holds the indoor 4x400 relay school mark of 3:12.73, set at the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala., in March.

Also posting a Division II provisional qualifying mark was Brown, who ran a personal-best time of 21.43 seconds in the 200 meters to place ninth in the 54-man field. The freshman from The Colony, Texas, likely will need to improve on that time next week in order to make the cut for the Division II Outdoor Championships later this month.

Senior Timothy Zuercher ran a season-best time of 15:19.63 in the 5,000 meters, less than 10 seconds off his career best.

The Eagles will compete in a to-be-determined meet next Saturday in what will be the final race of their regular season.