LUBBOCK – Bryson DeBerry's school-record high jump performance highlighted the UT Arlington men's and women's indoor track and field teams performance on Saturday at the Texas Tech Red Raider Invitational from the Sports Performance Center.
 
DeBerry – who won the event for the second-straight week – broke his own indoor program record on his last of three attempts at 7-03 (2.21m), which is also currently good for the 3rd-best mark in the nation.
 
The senior had previously cleared 7-01 ¾ on his second attempt to position himself for history. The previous school record of 7-02 ½ was held by DeBerry – set last year en route to his Sun Belt Conference Championship – and also Roland Sales in 2016.
 
"I knew that it would be a high bar for me and the program record, but honestly I wasn't really thinking about it in those terms," DeBerry stated about his thought process prior to the jump. "I just tried to go through my routine and focus on correcting a few minor issues that prevented me from clearing that mark the first two times. I knew I could definitely get over the bar, I just needed to be aggressive and put everything into the jump.
 
"It's a great feeling and kind of crazy to think that I'm the only person in UTA history who has ever done this," DeBerry added. "I kind of came from the bottom and was never really the best athlete, so this gives me the confidence to know that I can clear higher. Now I just keep trying to break my own record."
 
DeBerry's performance was one of six total top-3 finishes for the Mavs, in addition to several personal records established against a strong field comprised of host Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Miami, Texas State, North Texas, Incarnate Word and Barton Community College.
 
Among the notable UTA performances on Saturday:

• Madeleine Rowe finished 2nd in the 1000m (2:56.11) thanks a strong close in which she moved up from 5th in the field at the 600m mark. Mathilde Ruud just missed a top-3 finish as her 2:57.73 time was good for 4th.
   
• On the men's side of the 1000m, Dylan Lowe took 2nd place (2:35.73), running a consistent race in which he never waivered from that position at each 200m split.
   
• Marquentin Barnes took 3rd place in the mile with a time of 4:22.95. Freshman Jacob Ye finished 4th (4:25.02).
   
• In the women's 4x400, TaMaya Tutson, Shelby West, Tatyana Terrell and Erica Cormier-Jordan teamed up for a 3rd-place finish in 3:51.60.
   
• Cormier-Jordan posted a 3rd-place finish in the 400m (57.35). She was followed by five-straight Mavs, including Vanessa Ugorji in 4th (58.10) and Jade Bontke – who was running the 400m competitively for the first time – in 5th (58.40).
   
• Cameron Davis set a personal record in the triple jump at 47-3 ¾ (14.42m), finishing in 4th place.
   
• In the women's 60m hurdles, West (9:12) and Bontke (9:29) both set PRs in the prelims. In the same event on the men's side, Joel Bengtsson (4th, 8:12) and Medric Roberson (5th, 8:15) both narrowly missed top-3 showings, while in the prelims Lucas Van Klaveren secured a PR (8:48).
   
• In the shot put, Calyha Brown set a PR at 45-02 ½ (13.78m).
   
• Seth Texada (22.24) and Chidera Agim (22.43) established PRs in 200m.

NEXT UP
The meet was the second-to-last regular-season invite in the shortened 2021 indoor campaign for the Mavs. UTA will now have a few weeks off from competitive action before concluding its regular season with the two-day Gorilla Classic hosted by Pittsburg State on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12-13.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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