The track team collectively broke more than 51 personal records (PRs) and won the Bradley V. Urschel (BVU) track meet on April 6. This event was started in 1997 by St. Mark’s and named after Bradley V. Urschel ‘79, who excelled as an athlete during his time here. However, the event has not occurred since 2019 due to COVID complications and construction conflicts for the past few years, but it finally restarted this year at Hockaday. 

Led by Head Track & Field Coach John Turek, the track team dominated the competition and produced a staggering amount of PRs. This meet is one of few each season hosted by the school, so Turek and Hockaday Head Track & Field Coach La’Boris Bean working extremely hard to prepare for all elements of the event to ensure a successful meet. 

“I literally spent eight hours on Friday setting up for Saturday,” Turek said. “And, (Coach Bean) and I still had to set up throughout the day on Saturday.” 

As one of the last meets before SPC Championships, and the team’s performance helped bolster spirits and confidence heading into the championships on May 2 through May 3. 

“Saturday was a big boost for us,” Turek said. “We’re training really hard right now, and we’re not peaking at all. We’re training for all the events because with our schedule, there’s only one meet that matters, and that is SPC.” 

While SPC may be the only meet that matters to the team in terms of standings, the BVU meet holds a much more significant meaning in the school’s history. Urschel was a stellar three-sport athlete in football, basketball and track & field and eventually pursued football and track at Princeton. However, a terrible traffic accident left him paralyzed, but despite that, he continued to work hard every day and positively impact the St. Mark’s community. 

“We became very good friends after his accident, and I decided a way to honor (Urschel) was to name the event after him,” Turek said. “It was our 24th year because we missed four years, and it is  very important to us.”