EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Evansville track & field team broke a school record six different times on Friday, and multiple personal-best performances were set, as the Purple Aces had a strong day at the Billy Hayes Invitational in Bloomington, Indiana.
The assault on the school record book began in the day's second event, as senior throwers Jaden Hayes (Huntingburg, Ind./Southridge) and Zach Dove (Princeton, Ind./Princeton Community) both broke the men's school record in the discus event. Hayes broke the mark first with a toss of 49.33 meters (161' 10") on his third throw of the day, which was almost over five meters further than his previous-best mark of the season. Dove then came back two throws later to retake the school record with a toss of 49.79 meters (163' 4"), as Dove and Hayes placed fifth and sixth respectively in the 15-competitor event.
Graduate student Antonia Lamond (Nutley, N.J./Paramus Catholic) then broke her own school record in the women's hammer throw twice, becoming the first UE female to break the 40-meter barrier with throws of 41.28 and 41.51 meters (136' 2") to place ninth overall. Dove then became the first UE male to surpass the 50-meter mark, as he broke the men's hammer throw record twice with tosses of 50.36 meters in the preliminary round and 50.79 meters (166' 7") on his final throw of the day to place seventh overall.
Hayes continued his outstanding day with an impressive performance in the men's javelin to place fourth overall with a UE-season-best toss of 46.50 meters (152' 7"). Hayes' previous-best mark in the javelin was just 36.82 meters, but he launched a throw nearly 10 meters further on Friday, as he beat the Purple Aces' best season mark in the javelin by over six meters. Sophomore Preston Riggs (Ft. Branch, Ind./Gibson Southern) also set a PR mark in the javelin with a throw of 43.85 meters (143' 11") to place seventh overall.
On the track, freshman Joey Taylor (Grove City, Ohio/Central Crossing) had one of UE's most impressive performances of the day, dropping nearly five seconds off of his season-best time in the men's 800-meters to place 12th overall with a time of 1:55.97. Sophomore Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn./Central) posted UE's best individual finish of the day on the track with an eighth-place finish in the men's 1,500-meters with a solid time of 4:02.53, while freshman Jose Ocampo (Monterrey, Mexico) also posted a time of 53.02 in the men's 400-meters.
UE will return to action next weekend by wrapping up the 2023 outdoor season at the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships in Normal, Illinois. The three-day meet will begin on Friday.
