March 4, 2026 | Isaac Garcia | Sports Editor
Four school records were broken at the GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, which took place from Feb. 16-17. Jack Burgett broke his own record in the 60-meter dash at 6.75 seconds, Tate Herber set the record for the 60-meter hurdles at 8.24 seconds and Brennen Murphy broke the 400-meter dash record at 47.13 seconds, as well as his own record in the 200-meter dash at 21.24 seconds. Murphy would go on to win the men’s 200-meter conference championship the next day with a time of 21.3 seconds, but came up just short of the 400-meter title. Regardless, his efforts still led to him being named Male Track Athlete of the Meet.
“It means a lot,” Murphy said about winning the award. “Especially after losing the 400. I’ve won that one the past couple of years. To come back, win the 200, that meant a lot to me.” Murphy’s record clears the next best time in Western history by a full second. When asked about their performances, Burgett and Murphy both discussed the importance of mental preparation and visualization to achieve high-quality performance. “Before my race, almost all my races, I meditate for at least ten minutes,” Murphy said. “Both when I’m back in the hotel and right before the race.”
Burgett, who went into the meet having strained his hamstring just a couple of months prior, discussed the ways his mental preparation helped him overcome the roadblocks that came with the injury. “Running on a strained hammy, you could injure yourself anytime, even if it’s a little tight … but there’s a lot of visualization and just practicing it over and over in your head,” he said.
Both Burgett and Murphy were also dealing with sickness in the lead-up to the meet but were able to use their strong preparation to push past it as well as prepare for worst-case scenarios, such as forgetting a jersey or spikes, being ill or other unforeseen circumstances that could go wrong. “You just visualize that and then how you would get through it. Just kind of preparing for (the) worst case scenario,” Burgett said.
As for initial reactions to setting the new school records, both athletes kept a focus on what was ahead. Murphy explained, “I was pretty excited, the time clocks up on the board, so you know instantly, but I was pretty excited. But yeah, I was focused on the next day.”
A school rarely sees its two best runners in its history for an event competing at the same time, but that’s currently the case here in Monmouth for the 60-meter hurdles. Tate Herber, a sophomore out of Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, surpassed the previous record — one that teammate Jackson McQuain, a junior from Beaverton and transfer from Clark Community College, was a co-owner of — by just a tenth of a second, putting the two right next to each other at the top of school record books.
Aside from the new record holders, other members of the team had successful showings as well. Sophomore Jordan Vega from Independence clocked the sixth fastest time in the 60-meter dash at 6.93 seconds. Jackson McQuain qualified for the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, while senior Landon Theisen got second place in the 800 and scored the eighth-best time in school history at 1:51.41. First-year Maren Anderson scored the third-best time in Western history for the women’s 1500-meter with a time of 4:56.87, the women’s team in the 4×400-meter relay had the eighth-best time in school history with 3:55.53 and Aaliyah Taba, a member of the relay team, became the fourth woman in school history to complete the 60-meter hurdles in under nine seconds.
“People are really popping off,” coach Zach Holloway said. “And once two or three people really start running, well, then it’s just kind of infectious and the whole group is getting better.” Holloway, who took over the interim head coaching role late last July after Octavious Gillespie-Bennett stepped down, has overseen the strong performances not only through the indoor season, but the cross country one as well, with Matthew Resnik, Kyla Potratz and Remedan Seman all having All-Region performances last fall. When asked about how he’s handled the new role with short notice, Holloway said, “It definitely has been more responsibility and more time consuming but I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to be more connected to the rest of the track and field team and have some more control on how we can operate our program and provide an experience and where we’re traveling to and what opportunities that we can give for people and so yeah, it’s been more but honestly, it’s been really enjoyable to have that opportunity to do that with the team. So yeah, that’s something I hope to continue to do long term.”
The Wolves are currently preparing for the outdoor season by working on the small aspects of their fundamentals. Murphy mentioned working on his block starts. “There’s like a whole science to it,” he said. “But just pushing behind you, you gotta really jump out the blocks too.”
The team starts their outdoor season at the Erik Anderson Memorial Ice Breaker in McMinnville, Oregon, at Linfield University, just over 25 miles away from Western’s campus. The Wolves will hold their first and only home meet of the year, April 10-11, which is a great opportunity for fans and students to attend. For those who’ve never been to a track meet at any level before, it’s a unique viewing experience compared to other sporting events, but anyone who might be interested should take advantage while it’s right here on campus. The atmosphere, while hard to describe, is enjoyable, especially on days when the weather is nice, and fans can comfortably witness high-level competition in multiple events, of which new spectators are sure to find one they enjoy. For regular updates on how the track program is doing, fans and students can follow the team on Instagram and X @wou_xctf or @WouXCTF on Facebook.
Contact the author at howlsports@mail.wou.edu
