PHX Reporter

Grand Canyon University's track and field team made significant strides at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The team set four school records across three events and broke a longstanding Western Athletic Conference (WAC) record.

The standout performance came from the men's 4x400 relay team. Senior Cam Wilmington, graduate Daviciea McCartney, senior Joshua Gittens, and junior Ben Stratman clocked a time of 3 minutes, 5.53 seconds. This not only set a new school record but also surpassed the previous WAC record of 3:06.69 set by TCU in 2000.

"We finished the meet with an amazing performance from our men's 4x400 meter relay team," said Lopes head coach Tom Flood. "This fine quartet ran a blazing 3:05.53 which not only broke the GCU school record, it also broke the all-time WAC record set by TCU 25 years ago and is the 13th-fastest time in the nation."

In individual events, graduate sprinter Erin Brown initially broke his own GCU's 200-meter record with a time of 20.68 seconds on Friday night. Shortly after, senior Justin Raines took over as the new record holder with a time of 20.59 seconds.

"On Friday night the fireworks were provided by our men's 200 meter group, led by Justin Raines and Erin Brown," Flood stated. "Both of them broke our 200-meter school record in back-to-back heats, with Justin's 20.59 being the No.7 time in the nation and Erin's 20.68 tied for eighth in the NCAA."

Raines' achievement also matched the WAC's all-time best for this event.

Senior pole vaulter Grant Hagaman marked another highlight by achieving WAC’s second-best pole vault mark this season at a height of 5.22 meters.

Saturday saw more notable performances as sophomore Prosper Ekporere led in men’s hurdles with a school-record time of 7.68 seconds.

"This morning we started off with a bang thanks to our men's 60-meter hurdle group," Flood noted.

Other Saturday highlights included altitude-adjusted mile runs from sophomore Michael Archie (4:07.77) and freshman Rayan Belkheir (4:08.55), along with strong showings from junior Jacob Holguin (6.68) and junior Miguel Rosario (6.69) in men’s sprints.

Freshman Alona Haymore impressed in women's events posting an altitude-adjusted sub-2:10 run (2:09.47) ranking her second within WAC standings for her category.

With one regular-season meet remaining before heading into WAC Indoor Championships starting February 28th in Spokane Washington Coach Flood expressed optimism about their prospects stating:

"I do think we have already positioned ourselves really well to make a lot of noise back two weeks later when competing again Spokane."