The Bruin distance track team split their squad over the weekend, competing in the Concordia Classic in Seward on Friday evening and the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite at the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln on Saturday. The highlight of the weekend was the Bruin's first-ever NAIA national qualifying mark for indoor track turned in by Saba Khvichava.
Friday's competition at Concordia featured Bruin women running for the first time this season. Hannah Perkins opened her indoor campaign with a personal best in the mile run, winning her section of the event in 5:49.18. She would end up in seventh among all milers, and her time currently ranks fourth among NSAA athletes. Claire Kimutai also opened her season in the mile running at 6:53.30. Kimuatai would come back later in the evening to record a 4:04.08, clocking in the 1,000-meter event. Perkins' second event of the evening was the 3,000-meter run, where she placed tenth in 11:53.91, a mark that places her seventh among NSAA athletes this winter.
On the men's side of the mile, Edrei Murillo and Aaron Newton went seventh-eighth in the field in the field of twenty. There times were 4:39.24 and 4:42.06, respectively with Newton's being a four-second indoor personal best, a time that places him ninth among NSAA runners. Collin Kotz completed the men's group in the mile running 4:45.13 for eleventh. Newton returned later in the program to record a 2:11.95 run in the 800 meters while Kotz joined Kaleb Wooten in the 3,000 meters. Both ran season-best efforts, with Kotz recording 9:23.30 and Wooten coming home in 9:46.62.
On Saturday, Saba Khvichava and Richard Marcoux were entered into the very competitive men's mile at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite, both chasing the NAIA indoor automatic qualifying mark of 4:15.0. Khvichava led the first section of the mile from the start only to be overtaken in the final laps but was still pulled to the automatic qualifying mark, running 4:13.89 to take second in his heat and twelfth overall. His mark is currently ranked 13th in the NAIA. Marcoux, coming back from a recent illness, showed a return to health by recording 4:22.25, just two seconds from his season best.
Bruin Head Coach Craig Christians: "Saturday was an historic day for our program with our first automatic qualifier for indoor nationals. All of our athletes have made this the most successful indoor season in program history, and they are helping to put us on the map. Both of our meets produced a lot of improvements, and we are moving in the right direction with the conference meet just a couple of weeks away. I'm excited to see what we can do there."
Before the NSAA meet in Brookings, SD, on February 19, the Bruins will compete in one final regular season meet when they travel back to Seward on Friday for the Concordia Invite.
