Piliusina Sets 800 Meters Record at Stanford
Five members of the Oklahoma State track and field program competed at the Payton Jordan Invitational Sunday, highlighted by freshman Natalja Piliusina’s school-record performance in the women’s 800 meters.
The Lithuania native finished in first place of her section in 2:03.91, marking the best collegiate time at the meet, the third-fastest collegiate time in the country this year, a school record by almost one second and a personal best by nearly two seconds.
The previous school record of 2:04.61 was set by Justine Craig at the 1987 Outdoor Championships.
The men’s highlight of the meet came from Tom Farrell, who turned in the second-fastest 5,000 meters mark in school-history.
Farrell, a sophomore from the United Kingdom, crossed the line at 13:26.59, enough for third place in his section of the event, a personal record and the second-fastest collegiate time in the country to date this year.
His time, which moves him past Ryan Vail (13:37.02) into second place on the all-time performance list, nearly set an Oklahoma State record, but was short of teammate German Fernandez’s mark of 13:25.46 set in 2009.
Other athletes competing at the meet included Mihaela Susa (10th in Sec. 2 of the women’s 1,500 meters in 4:29.24), German Fernandez (third in Sec. 2 of the men’s 1,500 meters in 3:44.18) and Raul Botezan (ninth in Sec. 2 of the men’s 1,500 meters in 3:42.68).
Botezan’s time improved his personal best by more than a second and keeps him in eighth place on the all-time school performance list.
The track and field program is scheduled to return to action May 6 for the Arkansas Twilight meet in Fayetteville, Ark.
Updated 05-02-2011
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