CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Among a handful of outstanding performances at the final regular season meet of the 2022 outdoor track and field campaign, the Brandeis University women's track and field 4x100-meter relay team set a school record at the MIT Final Qualifier meet on Thursday evening.
The combination of junior Yahni Lapa (West Newton, Mass. / Newton North), sophomore Alya Campbell (Eastchester, N.Y. / Eastchester), sophomore Smiley Huynh (Bronx, N.Y. / Bronx H.S. of Science) and senior Devin Hiltunen (Quincy, MA / North Quincy) turned in a time of 49.30 seconds. They lowered the school record for the second time this season and have shaved 0.22 seconds off the previous mark entering the campaign. The quartet finished in third place.
The Judges had four other personal records on the day. Huynh increased her career-best in the long jump with a distance of 5.42 meters (17-9 ½), adding an inch and a quarter to her previous best from the UAA Championships. She finished third.
Lapa lowered her career-best in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.62, placing fifth. She shaved a tenth of a second off her previous best.
For the Brandeis men, senior Dion Morris-Evans (Canal Fulton, Ohio/Northwest) was seventh in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.49 seconds after matching a p.r. in the prelims with a time of 15.29 seconds. Sophomore Samuel Kim (La Jolla, Calif. / Phillips Exeter, N.H.) also tied his previous career best in the 800-meter run, taking fifth place in 1:54.99.
In other action, senior Erin Magill (Moretown, Vt./Harwood Union) warmed up for next weekend's NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she will compete in the 5K, with a 1,500-meter run. She placed second in 4:35.18, while classmate Natalie Hattan (Sugar Land, Texas/Clements) was seventh in 4:39.73. Hiltunen was third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.83 seconds and eighth in the 200 with a time of 26.19 seconds.
Magill will close out Brandeis's 2021-22 slate at the NCAA Division III Championships in the 5,000-meter run next weekend in Cleveland, Ohio, at the SPIRE Institute.