by Benny Benton
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Three school records and strong performances by Semaj Street, Nihgel Scott and Joel Lagat highlighted the Barton College men's track team's day on Saturday at the Art and Linda Maillet Open, hosted by the University of North Carolina.
Street finished second among 20 runners in the preliminary round of the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.95 seconds, just three one-hundredths of a second off of his own school record. The Fayetteville, N.C., resident backed it up with another runner-up finish of 6.97 seconds in the 60-meter finals. He defeated four NCAA Division I runners in the final, falling only to Norfolk State's Jaylen Carr.
In addition to his 60-meter performance, Street also placed third among 20 runners in the 200-meter dash after recording a mark of 22.65 seconds. He again led all NCAA Division II competitors in the event.
Scott, a freshman from Baltimore, Md., raced home fourth among 26 participants in the 400-meter run, posting a time of 51.03 seconds. He also collected an eighth-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a mark of 23.26 seconds.
Lagat, a sophomore, placed fifth in the 3000-meter run with a time of 9:27.81. In doing so, he shaved nearly 11 seconds off the previous Barton indoor record of 9:38.32 set by current teammate Tyler Amerson in last year's Conference Carolinas Championships.
The Eldoret, Kenya, native also entered his name into the school record book as part of the distance medley team. He was joined by freshman Raekwon Fiddermon, sophomore Sebaston Barrett and senior Lashley Winter in making up the unit that posted a time of 11:22.32 in the medley and clipped eight seconds off the previous BC record, set in 2014.
Fiddermon was part of a second record-setting relay team, the 4x400-meter squad, which also included Scott, Collin Wilks and Aaron Jones. The foursome recorded a mark of 3:29.05 while finishing third among six teams. Wilks was also part of the old record of 3:30.42, set last February.
Scott, Barrett and Jones accounted for four of the six personal records set in the meet. Jones did so while placing seventh out of 26 in the 400-meter run. Adam Pope produced a PR in the mile, as did Hunter Hinson in the shot put.
Three others set benchmark PRs by competing in an event for the first time, including Fiddermon in the 800-meter run, where he finished 15th.
Barton will return to action January 29th and 30th at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational, which will be hosted by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
