by Benny Benton
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Despite competing for most of the meet in a heavy rain, the Barton College men's track and field team managed to eclipse five modern-era school records and establish one more in its outdoor season-opener over the weekend at UNC Wilmington.
Sophomore Semaj Street, who broke both of the school's sprint records in an all-conference indoor season, picked up right where he left off in his first outdoor competition for the Bulldogs. It took just 10.95 seconds for Street to break the BC record in the 100-meter dash, which had been set by Anthony Nelson in 2013 at 11.38 seconds. The effort placed Street fifth in a field of 35.
Street, a resident of Fayetteville, N.C., also clipped Emilo Mason's 2011 school record of 22.34 seconds in the 200-meter dash after posting a time of 22.10 seconds while finishing seventh in a field of 43.
Freshman Edwin Dhaiti made quite an outdoor debut, blowing away Barton's 400-meter hurdles mark of 1:02.98 set in 2014 by Jason Morgan. Dhaiti lowered that record by more than four and a half seconds with his time of 58.20 seconds. The Orlando, Fla., resident placed fifth in a field of 15.
Two returning sophomores got their names into the Barton record books in distance events. Tyler Amerson, a hometown resident and Beddingfield High graduate, surpassed Sammy Serem's 2011 record in the 5000-meter run (17:19.30) with his time of 16:35.01. Luar Mercado Lopez, a resident of Lillington, N.C., improved the 2014 record of his teammate, Adam Pope, in the 2000-meter steeplechase (7:31.81) by posting a time of 7:14.52.
Freshman Vinson Murphy established a benchmark school record in the long jump as Barton's first participant in the event in the modern era. The Clermont, Fla., resident's leap was 5.33 meters.
As the first collegiate outdoor meet for numerous newcomers on the squad, a total of 15 other benchmark personal records were established by Sebaston Barrett (800), Martin Derico (100, 200), Dhaiti (110 hurdles), Jahmoul Gordon (200, 400), Aaron Jones (400), Kevin Randolph (100, 200) Jose Simpre (800), Cody Warner (800), Collin Wilks (200, 400) and Lashley Winter (800, 1500).
Those performances included 12th-place finishes by Jones in the 400-meter run (out of 29) and Warner in the 800-meter run (out of 34).
The Bulldogs also received a strong seventh-place finish from senior Austin Edmonds in the 800, and a fifth-place showing (out of 18) from junior Trevor Kyle in the discus.
Two personal records were broken among the team's returning athletes, Pope in the 5000-meter run (17:23.57) and Hunter Hinson in the shot put (9.16 meters).
Barton will return to action on Friday and Saturday when it competes in the Wake Forest Open, which will be hosted by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
