A rundown of the week’s news in Oakland University sports.

Track records broken

The indoor track and field season is past its halfway point and several Oakland University runners are positioning themselves for strong performances at the Summit League Indoor Championship at the end of the month.

On Saturday, two school records were broken at the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind. 

Senior Jason Bigelow shaved time off his own OU record in the one mile run, placing first in a field of 42 runners with a time of 4:06.71.

In the one mile women’s race, Grizzlies sophomore Lia Jones finished with a time of 4:59.77, becoming the first female runner in school history to finish the race in under five minutes.

Oakland’s next track meet is Feb. 12-13 in Allendale, Mich.

Preseason softball poll

The preseason vote by the Summit League softball coaches was announced Friday with Oakland University’s team coming in fourth in the poll. 

Western Illinois was voted as the preseason favorite with five of nine first-place votes.

The Golden Grizzlies finished last season in fifth place with a 24-27 overall record. OU will have to replace last year’s best hitter, Julie Owen, and pitcher, Jessica Granger.

The regular season will begin Feb. 19. The team will play out-of-state road games until April.

Men’s and women’s golf

Summit League preseason voting for the men’s and women’s golf was also announced last week.

The Oakland men’s golf team was picked to finish fifth in the league.

The team is led by senior captain Frank McAuliffe, a two-time all-conference selection.

OU’s women’s team was predicted to finish fourth in the standings.

Senior co-captain Austin McDermaid and sophomore Liz Ecker were Oakland’s top performers during the fall season.

After nearly a five-month layoff from competition, the two teams will return to action March 15 at the Jackrabbit Invitational in Nevada.