Tarasue Barnett set a new Grand Canyon school record on the weekend at the Mountain T's Invitational on the campus of Northern Arizona
Barnett, a former Edwin Allen student, launched a 14.87m put in the women's shot put to finish as the runner-up in the event.
With only four weeks to go until the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Nampa, Idaho, head coach Tom Flood said the Lopes were training through this meet, either running 'off' events or resting athletes for next weekend's competition.
"We had some outstanding performances, highlighted by Tarasue's school record in the shot put on Friday night and Pierre-Louis' Ricou school record in the heptathlon today," Flood said after the meet. "Both Tarasue and Pierre are as good as advertised."
Ricou dominated the heptathlon, winning six of the seven events of the competition. His score of 5378 smashed the previous indoor school record of 4803, set by Timmy Johnson, also at the Mountain T's Invitational, in 2015. Ricou's performance not only was the best in the conference so far this season, but also ranks 11th in the country.
Barnett's mark of 14.87 meters broke the previous school record of 13.66m—held by Vanessa Levy—by over a meter. Barnett opened up the competition with a throw of 13.02m, which set a new indoor personal record for the sophomore from Kingston, Jamaica. It didn't last long though, as Barnett followed it up with a second attempt at 13.99m to qualify for the finals out of her flight. Barnett's record-breaking put came on her fifth attempt of the competition and launched her from fifth place to second with one throw to go.
"Tarasue's best event will come outdoor in the discus, where she will have a chance to represent Jamaica at the Rio Olympics, but Coach Riccio has done an outstanding job with her, and all our throwers, with the indoor implements."
