The Webster University men’s and women’s track teams had two athletes break school records at the Billiken Invite, hosted by Saint Louis University (SLU), on April 12-13.
Junior Eroica Stackhouse broke the Webster record in the 5,000-meter run with a final time of 19:05.91. In the 5,000, Stackhouse finished 14th out of 34 runners. Stackhouse ran the second-fastest time in program history in both the 800-meter run and the 1,500-meter run. In the 800, Stackhouse placed 25th out of 51 runners. She ran the event in 2 minutes, 34.99 seconds — which was 0.2 seconds off the record.
Stackhouse also ran a 5:10.05 — which was just 2 seconds off the school record — in the 1,500, where she finished 22nd out of 43 competitors.
Junior Julie Greenough also ran the 5,000 and beat the previous school record that was held with a time of 19:32.38, but Stackhouse had the faster time between the two of them.
“The 5K I was really proud (of),” Stackhouse said. “I was very, very happy. As soon as I found out my time, I called my mom, I called my grandparents, I called my high school coach — I was really excited about it.
“The other two meets (the 800 and the 1,500) were a little frustrating because I was just that close. It left me questioning, ‘Where could I have made that 1 extra second up at?’ But I was really happy with how I ran, especially the conditions of the night before and the fact that I raced all three events.”
Stackhouse said the weather on Friday night was cold, but because the team was running distance events, it wasn’t as bad. Due to wind during the meet, Stackhouse said SLU’s staff flipped the direction the sprinters ran in order to help them.
Six out of the seven Gorlok runners that ran on Friday night set personal records.
“I thought we did really well,” coach Kelly Parsley said. “We’re getting faster each week, so that’s always a good sign.”
Like Stackhouse, senior Ethan Jeffries also broke the Webster record in the 5,000 for the men’s track team. Jeffries finished the 5,000 ranked 27th out of 56 competitors.
“(Jeffries) continues to get better and better,” Parsley said. “To have him back now at full strength, he brings a lot to the team — not only athletically, but spiritually. So, anytime he can run faster off this short amount of time he’s been back with us and healthy is always a really good thing.”
Jeffries was out because of inflammation to his IT band — which runs from the hip to the ankle causing joint pain — but he has competed in the last three track meets the team has participated in.
The Gorloks still have a touch of the injury bug. Freshman Clayton Roll is out with a knee injury on the men’s side, and sophomore Jenny Howard did not participate in the meet this weekend due to illness. Howard recently ran one of the quickest times in the nation in the 100-meter dash at the Washington University Select meet on April 6.
“Every time someone is injured, it does affect us because we’re so small,” Stackhouse said. “We’re working through it (and) thankfully (the injuries have) been relatively minor. They’ve been things we’ve been able to work with. We have awesome coaches. … They don’t push us through injuries unnecessarily like I know some big schools will do.”
The Gorloks will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for their next meet at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.). Webster will compete in the Rose-Hulman Twilight Meet on Friday, April 19 beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Share this post
