Melissa Sopher and Jill Rekich have carved our their niche in hurdling, but it's their sprinting that's etched in stone, so far

The two sophomore members of the Slippery Rock University women's track team made up half of the 1,600-meter relay squad that bettered the school record of 3 minutes, 57.90 seconds during an indoor meet at Kent State Feb. 21.

Sophomore Andi Rose and freshman Kara Lehman make up the other two legs of the relay.

The previous record entering the season was 4:00.25, which was set in 2001 and included Freeport graduate Linsey Westerman.

Sopher, a graduate of Slippery Rock High School, and Rekich, a Butler graduate, are continuing a long line of successful Rock hurdlers who happened to be part of the relay.

"I think there is a natural ability, a God-given ability," explains Rock coach John Papa. "That's where it all starts."

The quartet had broken the 4-minute barrier shortly before the Kent meet and shaved less than half a second before knocking off almost two seconds more.

"The first time, I didn't think we had it, then we got it," said Rekich. "Then, we crushed it at Kent. We all didn't feel well that day, but we all ended up really surprised.

"As soon as the gun goes off, it's all out," Rekich added.

"We were very happy," said Sopher. "That's two seconds off it. We have a freshman on the team, so we were very excited. We thought when we lost Linsey, it would be tough to find another leg."

Another tough aspect of the 1,600 relay is that it is the final event of the meet, so the athletes have already run up to three events, but that doesn't deter this group.

"Here at SRU, it's a fun event," said Papa. "If I told them they couldn't run it, they'd be upset."

"There's definitely no pressure. It is a fun race," said Sopher. "That's our race and we always win it. We just go out and try our best."

Sopher, Rekich and Rose have become fast friends, not because they all entered college at the same time, but that they see one another in every event.

"We're like the best of friends," said Rekich. "We do all four events (400 relay, 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles outdoor) together."

The three sophomores have had success, just at varying levels.

As a junior and senior in high school, Sopher won PIAA Class AA championships in the 300 hurdles and medalled in the 100 hurdles.

Rose was also a state champion in West Virginia.

Rekich doesn't have a state title to her name, but she was a medalist in the WPIAL and PIAA Class AAA championships.

"Melissa and Andi came in with better credentials, but for Jill, she doesn't let that get in her way. She has the ability," said Papa.

"In a couple of 400 hurdles races, she's been ahead of them late in the race. It might be a matter of time.

"It's a friendly, competitive situation. They're all good friends and they run their races hard," Papa added.

"I'm definitely not the fastest, not No. 1, and in the bulk of the races they beat me," said Rekich. "But we're all feeding off each other."

Rekich missed qualifying for the NCAA Division II national championships last year during the outdoor season, but she's very close this year.

"Jill should be the No. 1 hurdler on any other team," said Papa. "It just happens we have two others just ahead of her.

"We want to try and have all three qualify this year," Papa added.

Sopher, who qualified provisionally last year in the 400 hurdles for outdoors but missed the final cut, also has big plans for the trio.

"I want to make it this year, to take off about half a second," said Sopher. "I'm sure I can do it. I want the three of us to be 1-2-3 in the (PSAC Championships)."

With the outdoor season in full swing, plus two more indoor and outdoor seasons together, Sopher can only dream what they can achieve.

"It's kind of scary if you think about it," said Sopher. "The three of us up there and not weak in one area …

"We talk about how much time we can knock off and what we can accomplish."