Track and Field | 2/16/2019 9:56:00 PM

COLUMBIA, S.C. The Methodist school record for the men's indoor 400-meter dash was surpassed not once, but twice Saturday afternoon at the University of South Carolina Open.

The old record, 49.19 seconds, was bested initially by Erran Greene with his time of 48.27 in the second heat of 19. Five heats later the Monarchs' Jeremy Prichard bested the old record, too, posting a time of 48.58, but his record-breaking run came minutes late allowing Greene to find his way into the Methodist record book.

The USC Open was one of the 'last chance' style meets as the indoor season winds down toward the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championship meet on March 8-9.

Five Monarch athletes attended Saturday's Open in hopes of inching closer or surpassing NCAA qualifying standards.

Greene's new record was good for 10th place overall among the 73 entrants into the event. Prichard, tantalizingly close to the newest record in the Methodist book, finished 13th overall.

Earlier in the meet the women's 60-meter dash was contested with the Monarchs' Jimlyn Laurent among those in the starting blocks. Laurent posted a time of 8.02 in the qualifying heats, a 12th-place finish where only the top eight advanced into the semifinal heats. Laurent missed moving on by 8/100ths of a second.

The final competitor for Methodist on the oval was Makayla Lawler in the 3,000-meter run. Lawler set a new personal record in the event with her 15th-place time of 10-minutes, 48.39 seconds.

Away from the oval, Kimeesha Whitlock sprinted down the runway in the long jump and posted a best leap of 4.24 meters (13 feet, 11 inches) on her second attempt. Whitlock's result lifted her into 39th place.