The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) women’s track and field team set six school records during the two-day Tom Hathaway Distance Carnival, which concluded on Saturday in Indianapolis.

“Being the first meet of the season, I didn’t have super-high expectations,” UIS assistant coach Tyler Pence said. “This meet was a good opportunity for us to see where their fitness was at the moment and figure out what areas we need to improve on. This was a good learning experience for all of them.”

Savannah Brannan earned sixth place in the college division of the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10 minutes, 44.90 seconds. The sophomore from Edwardsville crushed the previous school record by 28.34 seconds.

Freshman Taryn Christy captured fifth (5:18.59) in the 1 mile, while breaking a school record. The Geneva native ranks sixth on the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) performance list in the 1 mile.

Freshman Hannah Smith leapt to a school-record distance of 4.34 (14 feet, 2.75 inches) meters in the long jump, taking down the previous record by 0.41 meters (1 foot, 4.25 inches). The Auburn native also turned in a school-record distance of 9.72 meters (31 feet, 10.75 inches) in the triple jump.

Ashley Miller established the school record in the 60-meter hurdles as she raced to fifth (9.89) in the college division of the prelims. The junior from Mt. Zion followed up by taking sixth (10.08) in the college division of the finals in the 60-meter hurdles.

UIS put together a 4,000 distance-medley relay of Gloria Esarco, Sydney Huffman, Libby Price and Christy, which claimed second (12:50.59) in school-record time. Lexi Yoggerst charged to fourth (1:01.27) in the college division of the 400. The Prairie Stars fielded a 4×400 relay of Esarco, Christy, Price and Brannan took fifth (4:35.83).Esarco earned 10th (5:24.10) in the 1-mile. Huffman recorded a time of 5:46.00 in the 1 mile while Price posted a 1-mile time of 5:48.68. Kelsey Cleary clocked a personal record in the 1 mile with a time of 5:50.71. LeeNaya Brewer tossed the shot put 9.56 meters (31 feet, 4.5 inches) while Maggie George fired the shot put 8.11 meters (26 feet, 7.25 inches). In the 3,000, Morgan Suttles put together a time of 11:49.55 and Claire Eaton turned in a time of 12:18.57. Miller sprinted to a time of 29.33 seconds in the 200. The 4×400 relay of Cleary, Suttles, Eaton and Huffman ran to a time of 4:55.13. “We had some good and some not-so-good performances,” UIS head coach Scott Slade acknowledged. “You obviously have to be happy with all of the school records; it shows our program is moving in a positive direction, but I know we can be a lot better.”

The Prairie Stars battle in the Jim Green Invitational next Saturday at 10 a.m. in Jacksonville.