EAST LANSING—Numerous records were broken this weekend as the Michigan State track and field team sent athletes to two different meets on Friday and Saturday.

Jenna Magness was the lone Spartan competing at the Virginia Challenge, racing in the women’s 5000m invite shortly after 9:00 p.m. It took Magness only 15:26.21 to cross the finish line in second place, which was good for a new PR and school record. 

Magness ran closely alongside North Carolina State’s Katelyn Tuohy for a majority of the race, though the sophomore Tuohy ended up taking first in a time of 15:14.61, which is now the fastest in the nation this season. Magness’ time ranks sixth in the nation thus far. 

Magness, who holds the indoor women’s 5000m school record as well, shaved off six seconds from her previous outdoor school record time to reset it in Charlottesville. 

The rest of the team kicked off the Indiana Invitational in Bloomington earlier on Friday. The first day of action was once again highlighted by graduate student Morgan Beadlescomb and senior John Petruno racing with each other in the men’s 1500m. 

Having narrowly beat out the school record-holder Petruno in the event at the Spartan Invite earlier this month, Beadlescomb took first in this race, running a personal best time of 3:38.24. Beadlescomb’s time broke Petruno’s record of 3:40.43, which was set roughly a month prior at the Raleigh Relays. 

Petruno took second in Friday’s race, running a time of 3:41.37.

This is Beadlescomb’s second school record time in two weeks, as he broke his own record in the men’s 5000m at the Bryan Clay Invitational last weekend. 

On the women’s side, Lauren Freeland led the Spartans in the 1500m, running a PR of 4:17.14 to take fourth place overall. Fellow juniors Melanie Helder and Katie Osika followed in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Both Helder and Osika also ran personal-best times. 

Other notable performances from the first day included senior Shakira Dancy tying for second place in the women’s 200m with Purdue’s Saran Kouyeth with a 23.75 time, as well as redshirt junior Makayla Perez taking second place in the women’s 5000m with a PR of 16:01.57. 

Redshirt junior Abdi-Fetah Ahmed also broke the 14-minute barrier for the first time in the outdoor 5000m, matching his 13:56.30 time exactly from this past indoor season. 

The spotlight was on junior Jaiden Paris on the second day of action in Bloomington, as she broke the school record in the 100m hurdles. Paris ran the record-breaking time of 13.35 in the finals after a 13.67 time in the prelims. Sophomore Kaia Scheffler finished fourth overall in the event, also running a personal-best time. 

Beadlescomb continued his dominance on the second day, taking first place in the men’s 800m with a PR time of 1:47.85, just .41 seconds off the school record. Petruno finished fifth overall in the event, running a time of 1:49.52.

Terrence Muex was the third first-place finisher on the day after he ran a time of 46.64 seconds in the men’s 400m to take the top spot. Fellow freshman Noah Sage took fourth with a 47.18-second time. 

MSU’s relay teams also had great success, as the women’s 4x100m and men’s 4x400m teams both finished first in their races, while the men’s 4x100m team finished in second place. Muex was featured in both the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams, while Sage joined him in the 4x400m. 

On the field, seniors Sophia Franklin and Trevor Stephenson took second place in the women’s and men’s pole vault events. Franklin reached a top height of 4.27m on her first attempt, while Stephenson maxed out at 5.37m on his third attempt.

Graduate student Quiara Wheeler took home third place in the women’s hammer throw with a top distance of 58.67m on her fifth attempt. She followed that up with a 51.34m PR on her first attempt in the women’s discus to take fifth place. 

MSU will continue its outdoor season back in Louisville next weekend at the Clark Wood Invitational, as well as the Jack Shaw Invitational in Kalamazoo.