Track and field: Lowery sets Pitt sprinting record

Pitt track star Jermaine Lowery broke a school record last month that stood for 11 years — a… Pitt track star Jermaine Lowery broke a school record last month that stood for 11 years — a feat that would thrill most runners.

Yet as his time of 1:02.82 in the 500-meter race came up on the boards, both he and his coach thought the same thing — he could have been faster.

“To be truthful, when he ran that 500 race he was basically by himself. There was nobody there to push him because he separated himself from the field at about 400 meters,” Pitt head coach Alonzo Webb said. “A lot of times when someone is there you give a little more effort — so he could actually run it faster, and I think he will.”

The record previously held by Carl Taylor was 1:03.20 — nearly four-tenths of a second slower than the time Lowery set — an impressive time for anyone, let alone having it mark a school record.

“I was very excited, because it’s a collegiate school record,” said Lowery, a junior. “Only a few people can break collegiate school records, and when it was set such a long time ago — I think it was 2000 — that kind of just solidified where my training has been going this year.”

Lowery’s fastest time in the 500-meter run before his record-breaking run was 1:03.41. Even so, Webb and some of his teammates weren’t surprised by Lowery’s run.

“When I saw his workouts I gave him — and the times I asked him to hit — and he was exceeding those, I knew he was on the brink of something pretty special,” Webb said.

“Definitely no surprise,” fellow sprinter and teammate Micah Murray said. “He’s one of the hardest-working people on the team, I was just waiting for it.”

Even after his record-breaking run, the Pitt track and field team still has more work to do, as it hasn’t come in higher than sixth place in any meets up to this point. Some meets don’t keep team scores at this point in the season.

This weekend the team heads to the Akron Invitational in Ohio, which will be followed by the beginning of the Big East Indoor Championships next weekend. Lowery’s work ethic has seemed to spread across the team.

“He is such a positive influence on both the men’s and women’s team,” Webb said. “You can feel the pulse of the team this year. It is a lot more focused and hard-working overall from top to bottom [than in years past].”

“One thing about running career bests is that they want to get another one,” Webb said. “They motivate themselves, and they know they put the work in — and now it’s paying off for them.”

Lowery agrees that his hunger to succeed hasn’t gone anywhere since he broke the record. He thinks it has helped motivate the team.

“I think we have just as much of a chance as any other team to win the Big East,” Lowery said. “We’ve been working really hard to get that goal, and it’s attainable.”