Senior Britta Christofferson brought a piece of ISU history back with her from Tempe, Ariz. Her hammer throw of 195 feet, 8 inches in the Sun Angel Classic broke the previous school record of 191 feet, 11 inches, set by Kris Curnyn in 1998. 

Breaking the record wasn’t necessarily a surprise to Christofferson. It was more of an expectation.

“I knew what the school record was,” Christofferson said. “That was my first goal I set for myself. I was going after it because I knew I could do that.”

Christofferson hit the 195 mark during her warmup throws and then focused on hitting that mark during the actual competition.

She had a friendly battle going with her male counterpart in the hammer throw — Josh Koglin. The competition was to see who could break the school record first.

Christofferson made sure the first thing she did after hearing the news was let her teammate know she had won the friendly contest.

“He probably knew it was coming,” Christofferson said. “We just started this competition a couple weeks ago.”

Koglin’s personal record is two inches farther than Christofferson’s, so while she might have won the first round, another battle is brewing. While it isn’t officially decided yet, the two are thinking about trying to see who can hit the 200-yard mark first.

Coach Grant Wall was pleased to see his thrower break the school record.

“I didn’t realize until the next day how much she broke it by,” Wall said. “She’s been looking great; we’ve been training hard and heavy. Britta has been here for five years just plugging away. Everything she gets, she earns.”

Sprinter Alvin Garnett also had strong finishes for the men’s side, placing third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.48. His 4×400 relay team of junior Jamal Currica, sophomore Brian Sandvig and junior Matt Brinkley finished in fifth with a mark of 3:15.22.

While the finishes appeared strong on paper, Garnett feels that he and his relay team could have performed better.

“I believe I’m a lot faster than that.” Garnett said. “I believe I’m a 46 [second] runner, and I train like I am. I just have to do it in a meet. I wasn’t happy with that.”

Arizona experienced a colder-than-usual front during the meet. While weather conditions are important to the sprinters’ performance, Garnett said it wasn’t enough to really affect him during his events.

He refused to use the weather as an excuse.

“I was a little tight, but when it comes down to it, you just run,” Garnett said. “Nothing is supposed to stop you. The weather affects your performance a little bit, but it all depends on how mentally strong you are and how your training has been.”