Traveling across the city, the Washington University track and field teams competed against several local universities at the Saint Louis University Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

The meet was unscored, but it featured several winning performances on both the men’s and women’s teams in the second-to-last meet before the University Athletic Association Championships (UAAs) on April 28-29.

Senior Erica Jackey had one of the highlights of the weekend for the women’s side, as her time of 4:27.73 in the 1,500-meter run set a school record in the event. She finished just ahead of senior Liz Phillips (4:31.72) and sophomore Sarah Fisher (4:42.14).

“It was my first outdoor meet of the season, and I was really happy with how I ran,” Jackey said. “I was hoping to set a time that was good enough to get me into Nationals, but I had no idea what [time] I could actually run…I didn’t really intend to break the school record. It just kind of happened, and I didn’t even know until later on.”

On top of Jackey’s record, there were two event winners on the women’s team. Senior Molly Wawrzyniak took the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:15.20, almost two minutes ahead of her only competitor in the event.

In the pole vault, sophomore Anna Etherington’s height of 3.80 meters easily won the event, and second and third place also went to the Bears thanks to freshman Claire Simons (3.20 meters) and sophomore Moira Killoran (3.05 meters).

Other quality finishes for the women’s team included sophomore Jasmine Williams’ personal-best high jump height of 1.67 meters, sophomore Shannon Howell’s 1:03.85 in the 400-meter hurdles, and junior Anne Diaz-Arrastia’s 5.18 meters in the long jump.

On the men’s side, the Bears won two more events. Senior Michael Burnstein was the winner in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:45.58 and sophomore Kevin Sparks was right behind him at 14:49.91. Wash. U. also took the fifth through seventh spots in the event with senior Tucker Hartley (15:10.68), freshman Garrett Patrick (15:14.56) and sophomore Justin Rodriguez (15:52.19).

“I think the 5K is one of our best events,” Burnstein said. “Distance is definitely our strength. I expect us to do pretty well in the 5K at UAAs. Overall we did pretty well at SLU, but I think there’s still some room to improve.”

The men’s team also found success in the pole vault, with freshmen Nick Alaniva, Tim Elliott, and Kyle Engelken each registering a final height of 4.20 meters to take the top three spots in the event.

Also mentionable was senior Tyler Jackson’s mark of 14.39 in the 110-meter hurdles, which only earned him third place in the event but was the second-best time in all of Division III this season. The Bears also took second in three field events—the shot put (junior Tom Arnold, 13.88 meters), the javelin (senior Ben Cutting, 52.29 meters) and the high jump (senior Justin Pieper, 1.95 meters).

The teams were racing at a brand new track at SLU, which led to several records for the new facility.

“Anyone who won an event set a stadium record, so that was pretty cool,” Erica Jackey said. “I think the meet went really well.”

Two weeks stand between the Bears and UAA championships, the biggest meet of the spring before Nationals in late May. Meets like this and next Friday’s at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology often serve as tune-ups for that meet.

“You’re trying to get yourself ready on an individual level, and from a coach’s perspective, trying to find who the athletes are that are ready to compete at the highest level,” Burnstein said.

With wins at UAAs, the men’s and women’s team would achieve a goal that would be historic on a conference level.

“We’re hoping to win both the girls and the guys’ team titles, because if we do it’ll be the first time that a school has won all six UAA titles,” Jackey said, referring to men’s and women’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track. “That’s something the coaches have been talking about the entire year. That’s kind of the overarching team goal, and everyone is doing their own individual thing to be at their best for that.”

The meet on Friday will begin at 5 p.m. EST.