UT-Martin senior Allen Thurman, of Signal Mountain, holds the school track team record for the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter races and 3,000-meter Steeplechase. His goal is to also hold the record for the 5K, which he will attempt at the Music City Distance Carnival held in Nashville June 4.
Contributed photoRunner Allen Thurman, of Signal Mountain, recently broke his fourth school track team record at UT-Martin and is on pace to take a fifth.
Thurman placed first in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase at the Rose Hulman Twilight Meet in Terre Haute, Ind., with a time of 9:44.29. This was his second time breaking the UT-Martin record for the event, which he first broke last season.
The difficult 3,000-meter Steeplechase is a distance event involving 7.5 laps around the track with five barriers three to six meters high per lap, including a water pit.
Thurman said he began competing in the event his sophomore year at the request of his former coach while attending UTC.
“The coach just threw me in it,” he said. “I did pretty good for the first time and have kept at it.”