CLEMSON, S.C. – The University of Miami track and field team had an eventful stretch of performances Friday and Saturday as the team competed in two meets over the weekend. One meeting was the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, and the other was the Music City Challenge in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Hurricanes were also up against some serious competition. At Clemson, Miami faced off against big-twelve powerhouse Texas, USC, Tennessee, and more.
In Nashville, the distance runners, led by Coach Cody Halsey, made some serious noise.
Senior Ayman Zahafi, running in the first men’s one-mile event of his career, shattered the school record by posting a time of 4:05.83.
Coach Halsey was glad that the decision was made to put Zahafi into an unfamiliar event.
“Ayman is a competitor and thrives in race situations. Regardless of the distance, he shows up. I was incredibly proud of his effort, the mile is totally different from the 800m and involves a little bit of a learning curve, but Ayman handled it brilliantly. As far as the whole group, they showed up to compete and that’s all you can ask for. I’m really excited about their progression and hope to keep that momentum up,” Coach Halsey said following the achievement.
Daphnee Lavassas continues to add to her already spectacular collegiate career by taking over the program record in the women’s 5000m, earning a time of 16:18.33. The previous record, a time of 16:51.38, was held by Gabrielle Hesslau in 2017.
For the rest of the squad competing in Nashville, Natalie Valera earned a new personal best and number five spot on the program all-time list when it came to the women’s one mile, timing in at 4:50.96. Elle Mezzio was right behind Valera in the same event, earning a new personal best of 4:55.69.
Where Mezzio really shined was the women’s 3000m event, where she earned a time of 9:52.58. Not only is this a personal best, but this time puts her at number five in program history for the indoor women’s 3000m.
Justin Rittenhouse, Enrique Borrego, and Austen Cannon also stepped up during the men’s 3000m. All three hurricanes achieved personal bests as Rittenhouse clocked in at 8:26.66, Borrego at 8:24.00, and Cannon at 8:20.92. Along with these being personal bests, this moves each of them up to number two, three, and four, respectively, in the all-time indoor program record for the men’s 3000m.
In the women’s 800m, Emma Maurel wanted to join in on the fun too….
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