BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — With a brown Sharpie marker, Matt Kravitz wrote two things on his left arm before the race.

He knew he’d need them as he pursued the Lehigh University school record in the mile.

It happened halfway through the race. Kravitz started to panic. He finished four of the eight laps in 2:01, and the pace was too fast.

His head started to spin — What if I burn out? What if I start to hurt?

Then he remembered to look at his arm where he’d written “Trust” and “It’s gonna be more than OK :)”.

Lehigh’s Matt Kravitz competes during the Patriot League Outdoor Championships.

“And so, I quickly glanced at my arm and just said, ‘Relax, relax, it’s gonna be OK. It’s gonna be more than OK. Just keep racing,’” Kravitz said.

The result was more than OK.

Kravitz broke Lehigh’s indoor mile record by running 4 minutes, 5.69 seconds on Feb. 2 at Boston University’s Scarlet and White Invitational. He broke the previous record of 4:07.54, which was set in 2002.

“The move was about 800 meters in,” Kravitz said. “There were two people in front of me that then took off. … I knew that if I didn’t go with those front two, even though I was hurting, that I probably wouldn’t be pulled through like I was. … I made the decision just to hang on to them.”

Lehigh’s Matt Kravitz competes during an outdoor track and field meet.

Kravitz, who is gay, finished third in his heat and 10th overall out of 53 runners in the mile.

After collapsing and rolling on the track at the end of the race, Kravitz celebrated with some teammates. Then, he sprinted to his phone to call his parents, who watched the race online. His first words to them were, “I did it.”

The response from his dad, Steve: “I told you.”

His mom, Tammy, started crying and said, “I’m so happy. It’s nice to see you have this breakthrough and see everything starting to click for you.”

Lehigh’s Matt Kravitz competes during a cross country meet.

Kravitz started aiming for the school record two years ago when he ran a 4:08.4 mile as a freshman. The mile on Feb. 2 was the seventh mile he’s run since then and the first time he beat that time.

The 5-foot-10, 155-pound Kravitz dealt with back and hip injuries in the intervening years. To focus on track and field, he decided this fall to stop running cross country after two races.

“I woke up in the mornings and I went to bed at night and said that, ‘I need to get this record. I want to get this record. I’ve been gunning for it for a long time,’” Kravitz said.

He trusted, and he got it.

“Honestly, it was probably one of the best feelings I’ve had in college,” Kravitz said of breaking the record.

Matt Kravitz can be reached on Twitter at @KravitzMatthew or on Instagram at @Matt_Kravitz33. You can read his coming out story on Outsports.

Names in bold are people that have announced publicly they identify as LGBTQ. Results are for competitions that took place Jan. 28-Feb. 10.

Division I

Schuyler Bailar (senior, Harvard men’s swimming) finished 20th in the 200-yard individual medley (1:56.44) in a three-team meet at Harvard on Feb. 2-3.

Joey Bonanno (senior, Ohio State men’s gymnastics) scored 11.7 on floor and 13.1 on vault as No. 8 Ohio State fell to No. 4 Michigan 413.9-402.7 on Feb. 2.

Michaela Bruns (senior, Gonzaga women’s track & field) finished 17th in the 800 meters (2:43.24) at Idaho on Feb. 1.

Lisa Coe (junior, Pittsburgh women’s diving) took eighth on platform (210.08 points) and ninth on 1-meter springboard (230.1) during a meet at Ohio State on Feb. 1.

Jacob Cornish (junior, Texas men’s diving) took third on both 1-meter (298.0) and 3-meter springboard (366.45) against Arizona and NC State on Feb. 1-2.

Abrahm DeVine (senior, Stanford men’s swimming) swam four events Saturday against Southern California, and he won both the 100-yard freestyle (44.59 seconds) and 200 individual medley (1:47.51).

Konrad Eiring (senior, Illinois men’s track & field) and Antonio Woodard (redshirt junior, Iowa men’s track & field) competed at Arkansas’ Tyson Invitational on Thursday to Saturday. Eiring took fifth in the 800 meters (1:51.76) and helped the 4×400 relay take 10th. Woodard finished sixth in the 200 (20.89 seconds) and helped the 4×400 relay finish fourth in a school-record time of 3:04.76. Iowa’s previous 4×400 indoor school record was 3:04.94.

Taylor Emery (senior, Virginia Tech women’s basketball) scored 24 points with eight rebounds in a 74-58 win at Pitt on Jan. 31. She helped Virginia Tech (15-8 overall, 2-8 ACC) go 2-1 the last two weeks.

Sam Fromkin (senior, American men’s swimming) and Blaine Johnson (junior, American men’s swimming) competed at the Bison Invite on Feb. 2. Fromkin competed in four events, and his best result was 11th in the 100-yard backstroke (55.55 seconds). Johnson swam four events led by a 19th in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.43).

Connor Griffin (senior, Fordham men’s swimming) took seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:21.08) against UMass on Feb. 2.

Nathaniel Hernandez (junior, Duke men’s diving) took second on both 1-meter (364.8) and 3-meter springboard (340.95) during a dual meet Feb. 2 at North Carolina, which Duke won 155-145.

Abbie Hetherington (senior, Oklahoma State women’s track & field) finished 15th in the 800 meters (2:11.13) during Friday’s Husky Classic.

Bree Horrocks (redshirt senior, Vanderbilt women’s basketball), Stephanie White (head coach, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) and Kelly Komara (assistant coach, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) went through the Commodores (6-17 overall) going 0-4 the last two weeks. Horrocks had five points and two rebounds in an 80-69 loss at South Carolina on Jan. 28.

LSU at Vanderbilt on Feb. 17 is scheduled to be on SEC Network at 6 p.m. ET. Vanderbilt at Mississippi State on Feb. 24 is scheduled to be on SEC Network at 2 p.m. ET.

Johnny Kemps (senior, Boston men’s track & field) took 10th in the 1,000 meters with a personal-record time of 2:28.44 at the Scarlet & White Invite on Feb. 2.

Dawson LaRance (sophomore, Minnesota men’s track & field) came in 34th during Saturday’s mile (4:09.83) at the Iowa State Classic. LaRance finished seventh in the mile (4:14.89) during the Power Five Invitational on Feb. 1-2.

Sam Layding (senior, Lehigh men’s track & field), Michael Mitchell (sophomore, Lehigh men’s track & field) and Susie Poore (sophomore, Lehigh women’s track & field) competed at Boston University’s Scarlet and White Invitational on Feb. 2. Layding finished 26th in the 3,000 meters (8:50.33). Mitchell came in seventh in the 5,000 (15:13.07). Poore took sixth in the 5,000 (17:32.41).

Sam Lewis (sophomore, Southern California men’s volleyball) recorded eight kills and three digs in a five-set loss to No. 4-ranked UC Irvine on Feb. 2. No. 14 USC (7-4 overall) went 2-1 the last two weeks.

Kennedy Lohman (junior, Texas women’s swimming) competed in six events against Arizona and NC State on Feb. 1-2, and her best result was sixth in the 75-yard breaststroke (45.74 seconds).

Charlie Minns (junior, Princeton men’s diving) competed Feb. 1-3 in Plymouth, England, at the British Diving Cup, where he finished seventh on the 1-meter springboard (282.65 points). He also took 16th on 3-meter springboard (262.2 points). Minns did not compete in the platform competition, which was won by Tom Daley with 480.1 points.

Will Lynch (senior, Vermont men’s track & field) won the high jump in Sunday’s North Country All-Comers meet by clearing 6 feet, 2 3/4 inches.

Ben Magliato (senior, Northwestern men’s diving) and Jack Thorne (senior, Northwestern men’s swimming) competed against Minnesota and Purdue on Feb. 1-2. Magliato took ninth in 1-meter (268.5) and 10th in 3-meter springboard (288.35). Thorne competed in two events led by a second place in the 200-yard backstroke (1:48.5).

Ryan Russi (redshirt senior, Wyoming men’s diving) took second on platform (569.2) and fourth on 3-meter springboard (648.05) during the Air Force Diving Invitational on Feb. 1-2. His performance earned him Western Athletic Conference Diver of the Week on Feb. 5. It’s his fourth WAC Diver of the Week honor this season.

Emily Scheck (sophomore, Canisius women’s track & field) finished 16th in the 1,000 meters (3:20.57) and 34th in the 3,000 meters (11:46.08) during the YSU meet Feb. 1-2.

Colin Christiansen (assistant coach, Seton Hall softball) saw the Pirates go 2-3 to open the season Friday to Sunday.

Simon Thibodeau (head coach, UC-Santa Barbara women’s tennis) earned a 5-2 win against Nevada on Friday and a 4-3 win against St. Mary’s on Saturday to improve to 3-1 this season.

Kirk Walker (assistant coach, UCLA softball) watched the No. 1-ranked Bruins open the season 5-0 on Thursday to Saturday in Hawaii.

Division II

Andre Williams (sophomore, Central Missouri men’s track & field) won the 400 meters (50.29 seconds) and took sixth in the 60 meters (7.16 seconds) during the Mule Relays on Feb. 2.

Shawn Becker (head coach, Missouri Western women’s tennis) guided his team to go 2-1 to open the 2019 portion of the season Feb. 1-2.

Mark Johnson (assistant coach, Tampa baseball) saw No. 2-ranked Tampa go 4-2 to open the season from Feb. 1-10.

Lauren Lappin (assistant coach, Missouri-St. Louis softball) watched the Tritons open the season 0-6 on Friday to Sunday.

Division III

Kyle Davis (senior, Ithaca men’s track & field) finished third in the long jump (20-3 1/2) during Saturday’s Colgate Invitational. Davis took 15th in triple jump (40 feet, 3 ½ inches) and 16th in long jump (19-11) during the Bomber Invitational on Feb. 2-3.

Alec Donovan (redshirt junior, Centenary wrestling) went 4-0 in dual meets at 165 pounds over the last two weeks.

Matthew Garza (junior, John Hopkins men’s swimming) competed in four events at the Nike Invitational in North Carolina on Friday to Sunday, and his best individual result was third in the 200-yard butterfly (1:53.85).

Abram Gregory (sophomore, Vassar men’s fencing) helped the team go 4-1 in Saturday’s Northeast Conference Multi-Meet. Gregory earned two epee wins against both Boston University and New Hampshire.

Jason Hadley (senior, Mount Union men’s track & field) finished third in the 1,000 meters (2:45.98) during the Wuske Invitational on Feb. 2.

Harrison Knowlton (senior, Middlebury men’s track & field) came in 11th in the 3,000 meters (8:51.87) during Friday’s Fasttrack National Invitational. Knowlton took 11th in the 5,000 meters (15:17.95) during the Cupid Challenge on Feb. 2.

Nathan Matthews (senior, Wittenberg men’s volleyball) provided five digs and one assist in a four-set win against Mount St. Joseph on Feb. 2. Wittenburg (7-5 overall) went 4-1 the last two weeks.

Tucker Meijer (senior, Amherst men’s cross country and track and field) decided to not run track and field this season, allowing him to end his career with this fall’s NCAA Cross Country National Championships where he helped the Mammoths finish sixth.

NAIA

Felipe Oliveira (senior, Cardinal Stritch men’s volleyball) recorded 12 digs, nine kills and two blocks in Saturday’s three-set loss to Lourdes. The Wolves (2-7 overall) went 2-3 the last two weeks.

Nick Clark (head coach, Clarke men’s volleyball) guided the Pride (4-5 overall) to go 2-2 the last two weeks.

NJCAA

Lexie Gerson (head coach, Harcum women’s basketball) led the Bears (20-6 overall) to go 5-0 the last two weeks.

Layne Ingram (head coach, Lansing women’s basketball) took the Stars (6-15 overall) to a 1-1 record the last two weeks.

Erik Hall can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @HallErik or Facebook. If you are an out LGBTQ athlete or coach and want your accomplishments recognized, please email Erik.

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