Last weekend marked the Missouri Southern State University Invite where the Southern men’s and women’s teams broke school records.

The women’s 4×400 relay team set a school record with a time of 3:57.02, beating the almost 10-year-old record of 3:57.35.

The athletes who were part of the record-breaking event were senior

Jasmin Hughes, junior Kindra Emberton, junior Amber White, and junior

Sydney Potts.

On the men’s team, senior Jeff Fraley broke the 200m indoor record with a time of 21.63. This mark is the same time he ran in the prelims of last year’s Division II Tournament, but since he ran on a banked surface, the time would be converted to a higher time. Fraley has a lot to offer the track team and is showing it at every event.

Hughes said, “Jeff is one neat guy. I’ve known Jeff for three

years now, and there isn’t a day where I don’t see a smile on his face. He’s such a nice person and I’m glad he’s a part of our team, not only because of his amazing ability, but as a friend as well.”

Before joining the Southern team, Fraley was a three-year letter winner for Coach Jerry Guffey at Waynesville High Schoo and also an All Conference and All-District pick. Fraley also was an All-State honoree for the Waynseville Tigers.

He is no stranger to breaking MSSU records and even breaking his own.

His freshman year he wasted no time making his name familiar by earning All-American in the 200m as he took eighth at the NCAA Championships with an outstanding time of 22.08.

Fraley also won the 200m at the MIAA Championships where he ran a 21.69, breaking the previous 200m indoor school record in the process.

“After breaking the record, I was surprised,” said Fraley. “I did not think I ran as well as I did until I saw the time.”

He took third in the 60m at the MIAA Championships, where he broke his own school record in the preliminaries in a time of 6.76 and also set the school record in the 60m in a time of 6.8 in the fastest prelim time at the UCM Classic.

Head Coach Bryan Schiding said, “Jeff is a special athlete and is obviously extremely talented. He is also very easy to coach. This year we’ve had a renewed sense of training; last year the training was not as intense as I would have preferred, but he still ran very fast. This year he is training harder than he did last year, but every now and then we have to give him a little reminder where he should be. Jeff is on a different level than most sprinters at this level are, so he needs to train

harder and work harder.”

His sophomore year, Fraley qualifi ed for the NCAA Championships in both the 60m and 200m, but he narrowly missed out on qualifying for the finals in both events, finishing with a prelim time of 6.82 in the 60m. Fraley won the MIAA Championship in the 200m with a time of 21.73 after finishing with the quickest prelim time of 21.75, earning All-MIAA honors.

He earned All-MIAA honors finishing by second in the 60m at the

MIAA Championships after running a 6.83.

Fraley continued by winning the 60m dash at the MSSU Lion Invite in 6.86 last year and won the 200m dash at the Missouri Invitational running 21.96 while taking fourth in the 60m dash in 6.82.

“My goals this year are to run faster than the previous years and to try to become a national champion,” said Fraley.

“If there is a real opportunity for me to continue my track career, it would definitely complicate my thinking long-term.”

Coach Schiding went on to talk more about the rest of this year, “Overall, he is training better, and it is showing in his times.

He is running faster every time he has raced this year. I fully expect Jeff to be fighting for All-American in both the 60m and the 200m and will hopefully be pushing for conference titles in both of those as well. He has the ability but has to continue to train hard.”