The Baker University track and field team is preparing for the Heart of America Athletic Conference championships with one of the strongest squads in the field.

“We have got the four fastest guys ever on Baker’s campus putting together a relay,” head coach Zach Kindler said.

Juniors Aaron Hannon and Kome Okiomah and seniors Gary Van Horn and Trevor Gleason make up the  relay team that broke the school record for the fastest 4×100-meter relay, with a time of 42.23 seconds, during the relays at Southwestern College in Winfield.

“We were really excited on Saturday and pumped to qualify for nationals,” Gleason said.

The relay team’s mark made it an automatic qualifier for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national championships in Illinois.

Despite a great performance thus far in the outdoor season, there still is room for improvement.

“We ran faster last year but I think this year has more potential and we just need to run a little more smoothly to reach our potential,” Gleason said.

Members of the relay team have been working hard on improving their handoffs, which have been a struggle to perfect at previous meets, the members said.

Senior Chelsey Ornburn also found success at the relays as she qualified for nationals in the pole vault by breaking the school record with a vault of 11 feet, 11.75 inches.

The team as a whole has been preparing for the conference meet where Baker has a good chance of placing as high as second on both the men’s and women’s sides, Kindler said.

Rainy conditions are expected for the conference championships Saturday and as a result the team has been preparing in the abnormal weather conditions this week.

“We’ve been practicing in the rain to get used to the weather conditions and get a better mental mindset entering the conference meet,” junior Jackie Koch said.

Koch enters the conference championships ranked third in the hammer throw, the highest she has ever been ranked in her career.

Following the conference championships this weekend, the team will travel to a meet in Emporia and then will be off to the national championships two weeks later.

Baker currently has 13 athletes that have qualified for the national championships.   

The men’s outdoor national championships will be held May 21-23 in Edwardsville, Ill.