Freshman Vicki Dzura set a season’s best record in the triple jump and took first out of the scoring teams with her jump of 37-3 3/4 inches at the Friday Night Special. Dzura’s jump was, 36-11 3/4, a personal best for the freshman Jenna Uhe also of Eastern.

“We’re finally learning how to triple jump,” Uhe said.

The women preformed well in preparation for this weekend’s Ohio Valley Conference tournament at Tennessee State.

With many personal record performances, the women’s team took first at the meet in Lantz with a score of 181. Southern Illinois at Carbondale finished in second place with 101 points.

Dzura and Uhe attribute their recent progress in the jumps to the passage of time and coaching.

Uhe jumped two personal records at the meet, finishing second in the triple jump and also finishing second in the long jump.

Dzura added the team is not working on just steps anymore and can now focus on form and competing. This is Dzura’s first year at triple jump.

Nicole Walcott also lit up the runway with her performances in the jumps. She took first in long jump at 18 feet, 3 inches, a jump which was a foot longer than the second place finish and a season’s best for the women’s team.

Walcott also was the top Eastern finisher in shot put with a seventh place finish and throw of 39 feet, 10 inches.

Freshman Violet Nwordu also had a record-breaking weekend. She came into the meet with a goal in mind – she wanted to run 25 seconds or better in the 200-meter dash. And she did.

Nwordu took second in the 200-meter dash with time of 25.77 seconds, which places her in the top-five indoor times in Eastern’s history. Nwordu also earned points for her team with a third-place finish in the 60-meter dash and by running the second leg of the fourth place 4×400 relay.

“I was fighting so hard,” she said. “When I compete, I don’t think. I just run.”

And just running has served the freshman well, as she has been seeing “dramatic decreases” in her time and has been setting personal, season and school records all season.

Junior Nicole Flounders won the mile with a personal record time of 5 minutes, 9.37 seconds. She was looking to break 5 minutes and wished she started faster but was happy to have achieved a P.R.

She finished more than 50 meters ahead of second place finisher and teammate Jessica Blondell. Blondell also ran a personal record at 5:18.61.

“I was pretty happy with my time” Blondell said.

This was Blondell’s first meet in two weeks, as the freshman was recovering from bronchitis.

The Panthers will look to improve upon their second-place finish in last year’s OVC Indoorr Championships. Competition begins Friday at the Gentry Center in Nashville, Tenn.