School records continue to fall in Pride's second outdoor meet of 2024

DUBUQUE, Iowa - Staying in town to continue on in their 2024 outdoor season, the Clarke University track and field teams finished in the middle of the pack on both the men's and women's side at the Mississippi River Rumble hosted by University of Dubuque on Saturday.

Highlighting the day were the four school records that were broken by the Pride as a lot of the records involved CU athletes running 100 meters starting with the men's 4x100 meter relay team of Gavayne Smith, Joshua Musonda, Brody Deitering, and Jake Etherington broke a record that lasted just a week with a 41.78 third place finish.

Smith would also be one of a pair of CU sprinters to break the 100-meter dash individual record as he and Gabrielle Dillard on the women's side both become the fastest sprinters in the history of Clarke University as Smith would run a 10.71 to break Chris Nightengale's nearly 14-year old record by .18 of a second and Dillard's 12.43 would break Erica Carradine's 2016 record by .13 of a second.

The final record to fall on Saturday came in the 1,500 meter run as Rory Bickler would add on to a banner 2023-24 year for the senior as she would run a 4:48.17 to break Shelby Kline's 2021 record by over a minute for her third place finish in the event on Saturday.

Jaycie Franco was the lone event winner for the Pride as she took the top spot in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 12:02.79 finish, about a minute off of the Clarke school record.

Full results from the Mississippi River Rumble can be found here: https://milesplit.live/meets/611647/events

Pride track and field will continue on to a split weekend on Saturday, Apr. 13 when some athletes will travel to Des Moines, Iowa for the Jim Duncan Relays and others will head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Mustang Distance Carnival.