Finding themselves in the thick of Division I competition and witnessing three world records broken during the Tyson Invitational, the Lions decided to smash a few records of their own.

Sophomore Alison Walker broke the University 800-meter run record with a 15th-place time of 2:13.92.

The new time was 0.3 seconds off the 2:14.22 record DaLana Lofland set in 1998.

“One of the reasons I didn’t go to the Central meet was so I would have someone to push me a little bit harder,” she said.

Going into the meet she had her sights set on breaking the record. She said seeing several other athletes break records at Tyson was encouraging and inspiring.

“It was as if you were on fire while you were there,” she said. “I saw them break records and thought to myself, ‘Why can’t I?'”

Walker said her main goals for the next two weeks are to score for the team at conference and get a better time to make sure she can compete at nationals.

“It’s up in the air for nationals and I’d like to get that secure,” she said.

Senior Iashia Castle was the only other competitor from the women’s team at the Tyson meet.

She competed in the triple jump and finished 17th with 38-4.25.

Men’s head coach Tom Rutledge agreed it was a thrill to see three world records broken, especially a men’s mile relay team with a time of 3:01.96.

“It was an awesome time,” he said.

He said with Southern being one of the only small schools there, people recognized the Lions were able to run with the competition.

Another record-breaking example of this is the men’s distance medley relay, which punched its ticket to nationals in Boston with an automatic mark.

It also improved its previous University record by five seconds with a sixth place time of 9:55.29. The relay consists of sophomore Kyle Davis, senior Kyler Rushing, junior Marcus Walton and freshman Dustin Dixon.

The previous record was set by freshman Ryan McPeak, Davis, Walton and Dixon at the University of Arkansas Jan. 21.

“We can go faster,” Davis said. “Hopefully we’ll take off five to six seconds at nationals and be ready to roll.”

This specific DMR team will not be competing again until the national meet.

Walton not only helped the relay reach a new level, an hour and a half earlier he had also bettered his own provisional mark in the 800-meter with a 15th place time of 1:52.53.

Senior Matt Campbell reached his best mark this season at Tyson by clearing 17-01.00 for sixth place in the championship flight of the pole vault competition.

Senior Kyle Rutledge had a third place vault of 16-01.25 in the collegiate pole vault. Davis and Dixon also competed in the mile run. Dixon came in at 4:16.71 for 11th place. Davis followed in 13th with 4:18.87.

As for the last meet before conference, Rutledge said they’re going to move things around a little bit.

“We’re going to change up the distance to change up the monotony so we can get more foot speed,” he said. “We need that for conference.”

Rutledge said Central Missouri State University will be the team to beat, but all the teams will prove to be good competition.

“We’ll have to perform to the best of our ability,” he said. “We can afford no mistakes. I’ve got guys that can do it. I believe in my team more than anyone else and we’re going to give them a run for their money.”

Rutledge said one element the team has going for them is camaraderie.

“Chemistry will win it for us,” he said. “We have great chemistry on our team right now.”

After heading to the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. Saturday, the Lions will put up a fight at home when they host the indoor MIAA conference championships Feb. 24 and 25.