At the recent Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic meet in Pittsburg, Kan., five William Jewell College Cardinals broke four school records. two of the breaks were Margaret Perko, senior political science and communication major, broke the high jump record at 1.65 meters, finishing third in the event and Jessica Goldsberry, senior business administration major, broke the women’s 400 meter record with a time of 57.63 seconds.
Perko and Goldsberry, together with Elaine Barella, sophomore nursing major, and Gretchen Mayes, senior communication and accounting major, broke the school record for the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:58.79 minutes. Fabio Kammler, first-year business admin major, broke the record for the 200 meter with a time of 22.30 seconds.
“For myself and the team, I really want to establish Jewell’s name as something to fear. I want our program to be more well known and recognized for the talent we possess. Of course I want that for myself too, to be recognized as a power house and someone to look out for in my event,” Barella said.
Barella is less than a second away from breaking the indoor 800 meter school record, so that is on her radar as well.
As for Mayes, she hopes to claim the 200 meter school record, which she is .03 seconds away from breaking.
The current record breaks came as a pleasant surprise to some members of the team.
“[Breaking so many records] was definitely unusual and it happened at one particular meet. I’m not really sure what it was for everyone else, but for me I was extremely confident that day. For the [relay] I had the upmost faith in who was handing me the baton and who I was passing it on too,” Barella said.
However, with Perko and Goldsberry graduating, the dynamics for events such as the 4×400 meter relay are certain to change.
“We’re losing a lot of talented seniors such as Jessica Goldsberry and Margret Perko. Losing them is going to be a huge loss. My hope is that we continue our training to make up for that loss,” Barella said.
The next step for the track and field team is the outdoor season.
“It has been absolutely amazing to work with everyone on the team, and our season doesn’t stop here. We will be continuing into outdoor starting with our first meet in Tulsa, Okla. on March 19th. With such a strong indoor season, we are really looking forward to an even better season outdoors,” Mayes said.
Photos by Kyle Rivas.
A previous version of this article was published with a misspelling that has since been corrected.