Records are meant to be broken.

This saying held true Saturday afternoon for Belle High School freshman Malachi Fredendall during the annual Russellville Invitational track meet in Cole County.

Placing third overall in a time of 52.92 during the boys 400-meter dash, Fredendall broke Tim Evans’ previous BHS record 400m dash time of 53.20 from way back in 1981 during Evans’ senior year.

“I want to congratulate Malachi Fredendall on breaking my 400m dash record that I set my senior year in 1981,” Evans said. “He’s only a freshman and he must be an outstanding athlete. There have been several athletes in 44 years that have tried to break it. He did it as a freshman and will be an athlete to watch the next three years.”

Timothy Schmid sprinted to a 14th-place time of 13.39 in the boys 100m dash while Ethan Bailey (28.91) and Braxton Ahart (24th, 29.21) placed 23rd and 24th respectively in the boys 200m dash.

Barrett Finnegan placed 14th in the boys 800m run for Belle in a time of 2:34.37 while David Skaggs scored team points for Belle’s Tigers in the boys 3200m run with a seventh-place time of 12:29.90.

Isaiah Spurgeon (55.20) and Connor LeRoux (56.56) placed 13th and 14th respectively for Belle in the boys 300m hurdles.

Belle’s 4x100m and 4x200m relay teams posted ninth-place times of 52.76 and 1:58.66 respectively.

They also placed third in the boys 4x800m relay with a time of 9:30.25 to go with seventh-place in the boys 4x400m relay in 4:04.36.

Trevor Frey placed 17th in the boys long jump with a leap of 4.37m while Kaegan Kinsey (18th, 10.19m) and Landon Storz (24th, 7.62m) competed for Belle in the boys triple jump.

Brayden Barzee (8th, 32.05m) and Brayden Gibson (10th, 31.19m) placed in the top 10 of the boys discus.

Skylar Perkins also took 17th in the boys javelin with a toss of 25.1m.

Barzee’s best showing at Russellville came in the shot put with a sixth-place throw of 12.04m.

Tajel McDaniel led Belle’s Lady Tigers in Russellville with a winning time of 6:10.53 in the girls 1600m run. Saylor Kent also placed 11th in a time of 7:34.18.

McDaniel (4th, 13:54.15) and Ellanor Kent (8th, 15:35.41) also scored team points for Belle in the girls 3200m run.

Among the Lady Tiger relay teams, Belle’s 4x400m relay squad posted a second-place time of 4:53.12 to lead the way.

They also placed fourth in the girls 4x200m relay with a time of 2:03.36 to go along with a fifth-place time of 13:02.12 in the girls 4x800m relay.

Just missing team points in the girls 4x100m relay, Belle posted a ninth-place time of 1:01.68.

Johanna Helmig (17th, 15.57) and Chloe Jones (22nd, 16.27) sprinted down the track for the Lady Tigers in the girls 100m dash.

Zoe Camden earned team points for Belle in the girls 200m dash with a sixth-place time of 29.07.

Kenadie Bailey (7th, 1:13.42) and Ellie Gray (8th, 1:14.19) rounded out the top eight for Belle in the girls 400m dash.

Allaina Moore placed 20th in the girls long jump with a leap of 2.84m.

Chloe Jones (14th, 17.45m) and Hayden Fann (15th, 17.4m) placed in the top 15 of the girls javelin.

BHS Track will return to action tomorrow (Thursday) at Cuba with a 3 p.m., start time for the meet.