Just when you thought Essence Slate had reached the pinnacle of success, she rises to a whole new level.

The Mount Olive junior from Fairbanks was instrumental in two record-breaking relays at the VertKlasse Meeting in High Point, N.C., running legs on the winning 4×100 (44.95) and 4×400 (3:42.39). Both relays broke the program and conference records, secured provisional times and currently rank top-3 in NCAA Division II this season.

Slate joined forces with Serenity Harvey, Heavan Roberts and Haniyyah Johnson on the 4×100 to narrowly edge the host, High Point, by two-hundredths of a second, along with a handful of other Division I programs.

The quartet slashed 0.51 off the program and conference record set in 2024 and tied last spring. Mount Olive currently sits No. 2 in Division II, trailing only Tusculum University (44.47).
The former Lathrop High standout also led the Trojans on the winning 4×400.

Teaming up with Roberts, Harvey and Lakeiya Sanders, the Trojans finished just ahead of Division I James Madison to obliterate their program and conference record by 2.69 seconds and move up to No. 3 in Division II, just behind West Texas A&M (3:39.36) and Fresno Pacific (3:40.69).

Slate is also nationally-ranked in the 200 (24.07) and 400 (55.19), sitting 24th and 26th, respectively.