Men’s track opens indoor season with success

The Oklahoma Christian University’s men’s track team started their 2015 indoor season on Jan. 16-17 with a multitude of accomplishments, including a win in the 3,000-meter and five of the Eagles’ six milers finished in the top 10.

Senior Thomas Ducat said the long break before the indoor season is advantageous to runners.

“It’s different because we’ll have the distance runners with us, there will be more athletes there, and we’re definitely more prepared for this one,” Ducat said.

Expectations were high for this meet, Ducat said before the run.

“I expect everyone to give 100 percent in their events, whatever that is,” Ducat said. “I expect the majority to qualify for nationals, if they haven’t already. For myself, I expect to run a better race than I did in the last meet. Coming into the second 200 of my open 400, I expect myself to run stronger and maintain my speed. The 4×4 will be exciting to have the whole relay team healthy and ready to go.”

Three individuals highlighted Oklahoma Christian’s performance on Friday – Kentrell Miller, Timothy Zeurcher and Landon Huslig. Each runner posted national-qualifying times with the distance-medley relay team.

Huslig finished the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.77 seconds, placing eighth and reaching the national-qualifying standard. Miller recorded a nationally-qualifying 23.45-second time in the 200-meter.

Zuercher finished the 5,000-meter with a time of 16:02.07, earning third.

The medley quartet of Kyle Broaddrick, Ducat, Brennym Kaelin and Roberto Diaz posted a second-place finish with a time of 10:29.04 in the distance medley relay.

According to Ducat, the men went into the second day with confidence.

“After posting a good showing the first day, we were excited and ready for the second day of events,” Ducat said.

The second day of the meet proved successful for distance runner Bryant Kierns. Kierns won first in the 3,000-meter posting a time of 8:50.87, easily qualifying for the national meet and beating the runner up by more than nine seconds.

Oklahoma Christian’s mile team finished 5 runners in the top 10 and posted national-qualifying times.

Keirns recorded a career-best time of 4:24.58 that earned him third, followed by Diaz who finished fifth with a time of 4:26.61. Sisay Gillock finished sixth with 4:28.40, and Kaelin finished with a career-best 4:30.94, taking eighth. Broaddrick placed ninth in 4:31.69, and Emory Lobley took the 14th slot with a 4:36.52.

The Eagles also qualified for nationals in the 4×400 relay. The team of Huslig, Ducat, Joshua Jones and Miller placed fourth with a time of 3:27.89.

Men’s Track and Field Head Coach Randy Heath said he was pleased with his men’s performance at the meet.

“The OC men competed well in the 60 Hurdles, 200, one-mile run, 3,000, 5,000, Distance Medley Relay, and the 4X400 Relay,” Heath said. “Since this was the first indoor meet of the spring semester, our teams got off to a very good start. The men had 11 top-10 placers, which should motivate the entire team for future meets.”

Heath said he was excited for his team and ready for the rest of the season.

“This meet confirms the fact that we have some outstanding track and field athletes who are ready to compete and continue to prepare for an outstanding indoor track and field season,” Heath said.

The Eagles’ next meet is at the Central Oklahoma Indoor Invitational in Norman, Oklahoma on Jan. 24.

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