PITTSBURG, Kan. (Feb. 9, 2019) –
Kelsey Castillo,
Leisa VanVooren and
Kelsey Simmons are proving themselves quite a record-setting relay trio for Oklahoma Christian.
On Saturday, for the fourth time in a calendar year and the second time indoors, that threesome helped establish a new OC track and field mark, this time in the 4x800-meter relay at the Indoor Gorilla Classic at the Robert W. Plaster Center.
Simmons, freshman
Payton Duesing, VanVooren and Castillo finished the relay in 9:27.61, shattering the former mark of 9:49.26, set in 2003 by Stephanie Bigham, Katie Allen, Audra Robinson and Diana Hall. The current OC squad placed second among six teams in the race.
Simmons, a junior from Shawnee; VanVooren, a senior from Bedford, Texas; and Castillo, a junior from Edmond; joined
Layne Hammer last Feb. 9 in breaking another long-standing indoor record in the distance medley relay, finishing in 12:09.22 in the same meet in which they ran Saturday.
Castillo, Simmons and VanVooren also teamed up to set two outdoor relay records last April in the Drake Relays, those in the DMR (with
Rachel Meyers) and 4x800 (with
Michaiah Chock).
Also Saturday, Castillo set a personal-best time of 5:14.61 in the mile, placing 19th among 49 runners, while junior sprinter
Lawanda Harvey of Frisco, Texas, had a career-best time of 57.83 seconds in the 400 meters. She finished 10th in the 43-woman field, with VanVooren 13th in 58.10 (after winning her heat race).
Simmons and Duesing, a freshman from Lantana, Texas, also competed in the 800 meters, with Simmons 28th among 63 runners in 2:22.04 and Duesing 41st in 2:24.67.
OC's only field-event competitors were
Temar Smith and
Morgan Ray in the triple jump. Smith had a collegiate-best mark of 34 feet, 9½ inches (10.60 meters) while Ray posted a mark of 33 feet, 5¼ inches (10.19 meters).
