Mokrasova and Saruni Break Records at Texas Relays

AUSTIN �� Lucia Mokrasova set the school record with 5,671 points in the heptathlon while freshman All-American Michael Saruni broke a meet standard to win the 800m at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum on Thursday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

�Lucy didn�t have the start that we wanted today, but I think she recovered well and finished strong to break her record from last year,� UTEP head coach Mika Laaksonen said. �She competed well and looks like she has a lot more left in the tank.�

Heading into day two of competition with 3,517 points, Mokrasova opened the day by leaping out to 5.30m (17-4.75) in the long jump, where she earned 643 points. She tallied 666 points after throwing for 39.94m (131-0).

After two events the junior notched 4,942 points and needed to run her time from a year ago (2:22.59) to tie her previous record of 5,615 points. The junior ran a 2:18.44 in the 800m to earn 845 points, breaking her previous record by 56 points.

Mokrasova finished in eighth place in a field of 23 and her total score ranks first in Conference USA.

The other big highlight of day two at the Texas Relays for UTEP Saruni�s star-studded performance. The Kenyan competed in the Invitational (including professionals) 800m run and finished by setting a Texas Relays meet record with the fastest time in the nation (1:48.82). In his heat was the 2012 Olympic silver medialist (Leonel Manzano) and the collegiate record holder (Donavan Brazier). Saruni will participate in the mile run scheduled for Saturday at 2:45 p.m. MT.

�Michael, what can you say a freshman running that times, considering the competition he faced,� Laaksonen said. �For him to come in and break the record is impressive.�

In the women�s Invitational 800m run, Lilian Koech finished in eighth place with a time of 2:11.42. She was the fourth collegiate athlete to finish.

Yanique Bennett clocked a time of 59.92 in the 400m hurdles on her way to a 20th-place finish in a field of 73. Teammate Dreshanae Rolle followed with a time of 1:00.23 to a 24th-place finish.

Cosmas Boit garnered a silver medal in the 1,500m run with a time of 3:49.90 and Daniel Cheruiyot clocked a 9:18.57 to finish in fifth place in the 3,000m steeplechase.

Winny Koech, Gladys Jerotich, Linda Cheruiyot and Antony Kosgei closed out the night in the 5,000m run. Koech (16:22.26) led the way to a gold-place finish with the fifth-fastest time in the nation, Cheruiyot (16:44.76) finished fourth and Jerotich (17:34.28) finished 17th overall. In the men�s race, Kosgei paced to a bronze showing with a time of 14:16.60.