SLIPPERY ROCK— Breaking a school record is usually a newsworthy event.

Not so for members of the Slippery Rock University women's 1,600-meter relay team. They do it all the time.

"For the past three years, that record's been snapped a couple of times each season,"SRU coach John Papa said.

It was most recently snapped at the PSACIndoor Track and Field Championships, where seniors Andi Rose and Slippery Rock High School graduate Melissa Sopher, freshman Jessica Sackin, Freeport graduate and SRUsophomore Lacey Cochran ran the event in 3 minutes, 54.82 seconds.

That won the event and broke the conference's 1,600 indoor record set by The Rock last year. It also qualified the quartet for the NCAADivision IInational meet this weekend at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston.

SRU's 1,600 is seeded eighth, 13 seconds behind the 3:40.32 pace of top-seeded Lincoln University.

"We're not in that league,"Papa said of Lincoln's time. "But our ladies haven't been pushed yet, either. They won the PSACmeet by six seconds over the second-place team, East Stroudsburg.

"If we respond to the competition, we could get fifth or sixth in Boston. If we hold on to the eighth spot, we'll come home as all-Americans.

"Indoor relays are tricky, though. Everyone is more clustered and crammed up. People fall down on the track or get elbowed. There are a lot of intangibles,"Papa added.

Sopher and Rose ran legs on the 1,600 relay that broke the school and PSACindoor record last year. Sopher, who won a high school state championships in the 300 hurdles, runs the anchor leg of the relay.

Cochran, an eight-time state medalist in high school and 400-meter champion her junior year at Freeport, runs the first leg of the event.

"Lacey would be an ideal anchor-leg runner. That's where she'll be on this relay next year,"SRUrunning coach Dave Labor said. "That's how much ability is on this unit."

Papa agreed.

"With Andi and Melissa, we have two anchors closing out that relay as it is," he said.

Sopher said the addition of Cochran, who transferred from Bowling Green, will help in the team's transition.

"Andi and I will be leaving after this year,"Sopher said. "Lacey is so good in the 400. When she leads off for us, it's like she's running her event and then handing off the baton.

"She's going to shine here for a long time. So will Jessica."

Add to that mix sophomore Vera McDaniel, who lost her spot on the relay to Sackin at the Kent State Invitational.

"Vera was a little tired after running the 200 meters in that meet, so we plugged Jessica in the 4x4,"Papa said. "She ran a great split and the team broke the school record that day. Jessica's been in that spot ever since."

McDaniel is waiting in the wings while piling up points in other events for The Rock.

"Vera is an outstanding athlete,"Sopher said. "It's unfortunate what happened to her (with the relay), but Jessica's time is a little faster and the coach does what he has to do."

Cochran won the 400-meter event at the PSACindoor meet, but did not qualify for nationals.

"I expected to do well when I came here, but not this well," Cochran said of qualifying for nationals in the relay and winning the PSAC400-meter crown. "When I decided to leave Bowling Green and come back closer to home, Slippery Rock was an easy choice.

"This is the best track program anywhere around here. And my brother (senior Tyler Cochran) goes here, too."

Labor said the work ethic of the relay team is its strongest asset.

"No question," he said. "They strive to get better all the time. They want to keep breaking the record."

"Hopefully, we can step it up one more time and break the record at nationals,"Sopher said. "If we do, we should be able to finish fifth or sixth."

Other Rock national qualifiers are Rose in the 60-meter hurdles and sophomore Jen Hansen in the pole vault. Both are seeded eighth.