Skies finally clear for breakout performances by BU distance teams

After poor weather prompted Doane University to postpone Friday and Saturday's events at the Jim Dutcher Invite, the Bruin distance track squad finally found some conditions conducive to fast running on Sunday afternoon in Crete. Partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-50s allowed two Bruins to establish new school records while two others had big personal bests.

Alicia Rivera Camargo began the day with a school record run in the 1500-meter event, lowering Madison Nelson's three-week-old record by five seconds. Rivera Camargo's time of 5:07.37 placed her eighth in the field of 25 athletes, the highest finish for a female entrant for the Bruins on the day. That time is currently the fourth fastest among NSAA runners during the 2023 outdoor season.

Two Bruins contested the 800-meter run. For the women, Caroline Feig crossed in 2:50.78, while Aaron Newton finished in 2:06.67 for the men.

The second school record of the day came when Collin Kotz chopped thirteen seconds from his own 3,000-meter steeplechase record. His time of 9:47.59 placed him third overall in the race, and he reclaimed the top position on this season's NSAA leaderboard.

The big personal bests for the Bruins came in the meet's final event, the 5,000 meters. Hannah Perkins came in as the ninth seed in heat one for the women, but a hard-charging finish brought her across the line in first. Her new personal best of 19:54.80 was almost a full minute off of her time at Sioux City just a week ago. She finished in the twelfth position overall after all results were combined. For the men, Kaleb Wooten sliced twenty-six seconds from his season and personal best, running 16:40.47, finishing third in his heat and fourteenth overall.

Asst. Coach Jose Barbosa: "Everyone ran very well today. We ran smart races with good pacing so the athletes are learning. I thought our finishes were very strong. Kaleb looked like a Lamborghini passing a Volkswagen in his last 300 meters, and Hannah did the same to win her heat. It was a good day at the office."

The Bruins will compete one final time during the regular season when they travel to Nebraska Wesleyan for the Prairie Wolf Invitational next Saturday.