In its final home meet of the season, the Marshall University track and field team competes in the Chipotle Marshall Invitational Friday and Saturday.

The Herd’s last competition was the Akron Invitational, where several of its players beat personal records and season bests.

Senior Alexandra Phares finished second in the 3k run, which is a lifetime best for her by 15 seconds.

Sophomore Madeline Armstrong led the Herd with a time of 5:17:56 in the blue mile run.

Both junior Antonique Butler and Shanice Johnson finished in the gold division in the triple jump and 400-meter dash, respectively.

Johnson said she was nervous about being placed in the 400-meter dash since she has not ran it since last spring and was surprised when she found out she had won.

“It really surprised me that I was able to win my heat and finish as strong as I did,” Johnson said. “I actually was kind of proud of myself because I still had it in me.”

As a senior, Johnson said she has a lot of feelings about her last home meet of her collegiate indoor season.

“If anything, this is the most important meet because this is the last time I’ll compete on this track,” Johnson said. “This is the last time for me to leave it all out on the field and make a name for myself.”

Sophomore Victoria Dent said her team is excited and eager to break some records in its last home meet of the year.

“Last weekend, my teammates were three seconds away from breaking our school’s indoor distance medley relay,” Dent said. “So, I think that’s definitely a goal to break that. If not tomorrow, then in the last two indoor meets we have left.”

With the indoor championships only a few weeks away, Dent said that the team is prepared and ready to win some titles.

“I’ve had a lot of fun this season,” Dent said. “And I think my teammates and I are ready to do some big things in the next few weeks with the Conference USA indoor championships coming up.”

The Herd will host 14 teams this weekend at the Chris Cline Athletic Complex.

Friday’s events will begin at 5 p.m. and will continue 9 a.m. Saturday.

Brittanie Fowler can be contacted at [email protected].