CHICAGO – The 4x800 Relay team of senior Yanira Deana Paninka (Canary Island, Spain/Central Methodist/IES Jandia), fifth-year senior Olivia Mathis (Akron, Ohio/Lourdes/St Vincent-St. Mary), junior Amaya Rique (St. Louis, Mo./Mineral Area/Seckman) and fifth-year senior Lexi Clarke (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet JC/Plainfield South) shattered the school record and posted the fastest time in the NAIA so far this season, with their first-place time of 9:11.01 for the No. 9 ranked Saint Xavier University women's track & field team in their lone event at the Orange and Black Invitational hosted by Indiana Tech University Friday evening in Fort Wayne, Ind. The Cougars competed against some of the top 4x800 squads in the NAIA enroute to hitting the NAIA 'A' Standard. SXU broke the previous team record of 9:24.73 set last season in the preliminaries at the NAIA Indoor National Championships in Gainesville, Fla.

Saint Xavier also sent a limited roster to the Walter Cramer Invite hosted by Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) in Bourbonnais, Ill. on Friday afternoon. Senior Emerson Colins (New Lenox, Ill./St. Francis/Lincoln-Way West) posted her second-best career effort in the Long Jump, taking second with a distance of 5.28m, the seventh best in school history. Sophomore Mariah James (Alsip, Ill./Shepard) also performed well for the Cougars, taking second in the Shot Put with a throw of 11.85m to set a new personal record (PR). James also placed third overall, establishing a new PR, in the Weight Throw with a mark of 14.77m. No team scores were recorded at either meet.

• Senior Isabella Alatorre (Blue Island, Ill./Eisenhower) PR'd in the Mile, running her first career sub-six-minute time at 5:53.65.
• Freshman Alesi Rodriguez (St. John, Ind./Andrean) set a new PR in the prelims of the 60m Hurdles, qualifying for the finals with a time of 11.30 seconds. She bested that time in the finals, placing ninth at 10.98 seconds.
• Sophomore Sophia Thomas (Highland, Ill./Highland) recorded her third-best career distance in the Long Jump after a fourth-place jump of 4.89m. Junior Rashiya Warfield (Lansing, Ill./T.F. South) also came away with her third-best career distance at 4.79m to finish seventh overall. Senior Nayilea Bejarano (Posen, Ill./Eisenhower) registered a new Indoor PR with her ninth-place jump of 4.51m.
• Senior Jamie Sierocki (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) was third in the Shot Put with her toss of 11.46m. Freshman Brooke Becker (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) logged her third-best throw of the season at 10.75m to place fifth. Freshman Alexa Pena Flores (Burbank, Ill./Reavis) also had a Top 10 finish with her toss of 10.45m.
• Becker finished fourth in the Weight Throw with her second-best distance of the season at 12.86m. Sierocki was next with a toss of 12.58m to place fifth. Pena Flores surpassed the 12.00m for the first time with her PR throw of 12.04m to finish seventh overall.

No. 9 Saint Xavier prepares for the two-day Big Meet Invite hosted by Grand Valley State University (Mich.) in Allendale, Mich. starting on Friday, February 13.