LINCOLN, Neb. -- The BU track team opened their 2024 indoor campaign today competing at the Prairie Wolf Invite hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan at UNL's Bob Devaney Center. After an especially cold and snowy start to winter, the Bruins were able to get inside for some racing.
Collin Kotz had the Bruin's highest placing of the day with his 19th place finish in the meet featuring squads from NCAA Divisions I, II and III. Kotz ran 4:48.51 for the full mile. Also in the mile were Griffin Kipchumba and Robbie Siford, both running their first track races for the Bruins. Kipchumba ran to a 4:55.95 finish while Siford crossed in 5:04.20. Both Kipchumba and Siford would return for a second race with Siford running 2:59.87 for 1,000 meters and Kipchumba clocking 9:59.95 in the 3,000 meter event.
On the women's side, Oliva Russo was fifth in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 12:33.76. Earlier in the day she had contested the mile run finishing in 6:15.89. Also in the mile was Ashley Guatemala running 6:29.28 in her first track race as a Bruin. Guatemala came back a short time later in the 800 meters, running 2:5297 while teammate Alicia Rivera Camargo finished ahead of her in 2:44.65.
Head Coach Craig Christians: "It was a starting place for us and I expect that we'll see improvement over the next few meets. The winter has confined us to treadmills and we had really only been on an indoor track once leading up to the meet so it was good to get a race under our belts."
Next up for the Bruins will be next Saturday when they travel to Seward for the Concordia Classic.
