Pereira shatters school record, Richards lands in top ten as Barton track and field opens outdoor season with four program Top-10 performances #GoBarton #RoarCougs s

Throwers from the Barton Community College track and field team opened the outdoor season in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday with three program Top-10 performances in the process of winning a pair of events at the Texas Christian University Invitational.

Highlighting the performances was Alencar Pereira in not only winning the men's hammer throw but rewriting the Barton record book in the process.

Pereira exceeded the 61.13m (200-07) record set last season by Enrique Martinez on each of his six times in the ring, marking a 64m on his first throw of the day. Hitting a 61.75m thorw on his second attempt, Pereira inked the top spot with a 65.10m (215-07) on the third attempt. Also recording marks of 65.10m, 63.68m, and 65.95m, the freshman won the event by over five meters. Fellow first-year competitor Phillipe Barnett put two marks on the sheet, the best coming on his fifth attempt of 49.02m (160-10) in placing fifth.

Entering athletes in just hammer and discus throws, Kevin Nedrick gave the Cougars another first place with Barnett taking the second slot as the pair marked program Top-10 discus throws. Nedrick put three on the board over 50 meters with the third leaping over Barnett for the top spot at 54.46m (178-08) for the 5th best in Cougar history. Barnett, who pinned a 53.96m (177-00) mark on his first attempt, etched his name in the 8th best all-time slot.

Fiona Richards also had a good day in the discus, placing fourth overall with a fourth attempt of 47.60m (156-02) to also join the all-time list in ranking 9th.

The throwing pack rejoins their teammates for the next scheduled meet as the full Cougar team heads back to the Texas, this time in Lubbock for Texas Tech University's Fearless Champion Open held March 22-23.