Runner Breaks Her Own School's Record Two Weeks in a Row

Laura Avila crossed the finish line at Vanderbilt's track facility on Friday and immediately rewrote her school's record books for the second time in a week.

The Alabama A&M junior broke her university's 5000-meter record by over a minute, clocking 18:18.95 at the Vanderbilt Invitational. Just seven days earlier, she'd set a new school mark in the 3000 meters at a different meet.

Avila finished sixth overall in a competitive field, but her performance represented something bigger than placement. She beat the previous Alabama A&M record of 19:28.96 by a stunning margin, the kind of improvement that speaks to months of dedicated training paying off in a single race.

Her teammate Sanyae Gibson, who set that previous record just weeks ago at the conference championships, also ran well. Gibson finished 10th with a time of 18:56.46, showing the rising talent across Alabama A&M's distance program.

The Bulldogs brought strong performances across multiple events that day. Brianna Samuels placed fifth in the 600 meters, while the men's long jump squad showed impressive depth with three athletes finishing in the top seven spots.

Why This Inspires

Avila's back-to-back record breaking reveals something powerful about incremental progress. She didn't wait years between milestones. She built momentum, turned one breakthrough into fuel for the next, and kept pushing when she could have coasted on her previous success.

Her story also highlights the strength of team dynamics. When Gibson set the 5000m record weeks earlier, it raised the bar for the entire program. Now both athletes are running faster than either did before, proof that competition among teammates can lift everyone higher.

Alabama A&M competes as Huntsville's only Division I athletics program, representing their city on the national stage while building a culture of excellence one race at a time.

Two records in two weeks, and the season isn't over yet.