At the Bomber Invitational on Feb. 4 and 5, graduate student Logan Bruce highlighted the second day of competition after setting a new school record in the pentathlon.
Bruce’s score of 3722 beat the previous program record of 3674, set by Emma Dewart ’12 at the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championships. Dewart’s performance also earned her a national title in the event.
In addition to the school record, Bruce’s score put her at the top of the Division III rankings in the event this season, besting the previous top score by 42 points. The score also puts her into ninth place on the all-time leaderboard.
Bruce said she has been chasing the program record since her first year as a Bomber. In 2022, she came 12 points away, taking second place at the D-III Championships with a score of 3662. Even though it took her longer than she anticipated, she said she is proud to finally have it.
“Every season, we really thought that this is the season [I am going to] break the school record, and it didn’t happen,” Bruce said. “I wish I would have done it sooner, but it’s been a goal I’ve had for such a long time.”
Bruce won three of the five events at the meet — the 60-meter hurdles, 800-meter run and shot put — and took second in the long jump and high jump. The top performers in both of those events were from Division I Cornell University. Bruce’s long jump of 5.68 meters also puts her in fourth place in the nation in that event.
In terms of the national and all-time rankings, Bruce said she did not expect to score high enough to land where she did on those lists — in fact, she did not even know there was an all-time leaderboard to keep track of.
“I guess I didn’t think that was ever something that I could achieve; it was never really on my radar,” Bruce said. “It’s really cool to be able to get my name and get Ithaca’s name on that board and in those records. It makes me really proud to be able to represent them.”
This year, the Liberty League Indoor Championships are fast approaching, taking place from Feb. 24–25 in Rochester, before national qualifiers will head to Birmingham, Alabama, for the NCAA Indoor National Championships. Though she is the current top scorer in the nation for D-III, Bruce said she does not want to let it get to her head.
“I guess I’ll take it cautiously,” Bruce said. “It’s giving me a little bit of confidence going into [the] postseason. … [But] it really doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I still have to perform well in the Championships in order to get a medal.”
