The Oklahoma Christian University men’s track and field team qualified nine more runners for the National Indoor Competition at the Lion Invitational on Feb. 6-7.
According to freshman Landon Huslig, the team focused on smaller details of its performance.
“This meet was a really big meet compared to others,” Huslig said. “The mentality going into the meet was just to show up and compete and run the best we can.”
The Eagles emphasized the importance of mechanics in practice, Huslig said.
“The past week prior to the meet, I was working on starts of the first hurdle,” Huslig said. “[I was] working a lot of starts and block work to try and get any extra advantage that I could.”
This focus during training proved effective for Oklahoma Christian, Huslig said.
Three sprinters and three distance runners for the Eagles posted national-qualifying times.
Kentrell Miller ran in the 60-meters and posted a season-best time of 7.16 seconds, placing him at 24 among a 76-man field, and moved him up in the NCCAA ranks for the Indoor Championship meet.
Huslig ran in the 200-meters placing 19th with a time of 23.17 seconds, and Thomas Ducat finished 22nd with a time of 23.21 seconds, both times fast enough to qualify for nationals.
Sisay Gillock, Timothy Zeurcher and Evan Durrill all posted season-best national-qualifying times in the 5,000-meter race. Gillock finished seventh in 15:31.74. Zeurcher at 12th with a time of 15:42.08, and Durrill posted a time of 16:06.84, placing him at 23rd.
Huslig also competed in the 60-meter hurdles, placing 11th with a time of 8.62 seconds, which is a national-qualifier.
The Eagles then moved on to the second day of the meet, hoping to continue their successes, Huslig said.
The men posted a few more national-qualifying times on the second day of the meet.
Emory Lobley, a freshman distance runner ran in the 800-meters race and posted a season-best time, which met the national-qualifying standard. Lobley placed 25th in the 800 posting a time of 2:00.12.
The Eagles had two more national-qualifiers in the 3,000 meters race – Bryant Keirns and Brennym Kaelin. Keirns finished third, posting a time of 8:42.48. Kaelin was not too far behind with a time of 8:50.83, placing him at fifth.
The Eagles’ 4×400 relay team posted a national-qualifying time in their event. The team of Huslig, Ducat, Joshua Jones and Miller placed 10th and posted a time of 3:25.88, which was easily within the national-qualifying standard.
The Eagles travel to Norman on Saturday for the Oklahoma Baptist Indoor invitational.
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