Bruins Back on Track at Nebraska Wesleyan

The Bruin men's and women's track squads returned to the track on Thursday for the Prairie Wolf Invite hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln. For the first time this season, the winds relented and the Bruins took advantage of the great track and field conditions to record three school records.

Highlighting the Bruin efforts for the women was Madison Nelson's victory at 5,000 meters. Nelson's time of 18:54.51 was a new school record by thirty-five seconds and currently ranks her at number 2 among NSAA competitors. A trio of Bruin women contested both the 1500-meter and 800-meter races. Olivia Russo became the second-fastest Bruin performer all-time at 1500 meters with her 5:25.51 clocking. She was followed in that race by Alisiara Hobbs who turned in a 5:30.39 and Hannah Perkins crossing the finish in 5:51.55. The same group finished the day in the 800 meters where Russo edged Hobbs at the line, recording times of 2:47.79 and 2:47.86 respectively. Perkins completed the Bruin efforts on the day with her 3:01.71.

For the Bruin men, Gabe Poppen had two season bests and two eighth-place finishes on the day, one of which was a non-wind aided school record 23.86 seconds in the 200-meter dash, eclipsing his old record of 23.87. Earlier in the day, Poppen had run a season-best 54.60 seconds for 400 meters. The final school record of the day fell when Aaron Newton recorded a 2:04.14 clocking at 800 meters, good for 11th place and taking a second from the old record. Edrei Murillo followed Newton across the line in 2:11.84. The final event of the day saw Chris Casart running his first race of the season and placing 11th in 17:33.63 at 5,000 meters.

Head Coach Craig Christians: "It's been a tough couple of weeks for us with a lot of illness going around the team but I feel like we made a big comeback today. I think this puts us back on track for a good showing at the conference meet in a couple weeks because I want to go up to Valley City and lower some times and score some points. After a shaky last two weeks, I could feel the confidence coming back in most of our athletes today."

This concludes the regular season schedule for the Bruins and the team will travel to Valley City for the NSAA Championship meet on May 12 and 13. Madison Nelson has qualified for the NAIA National Championship in the half marathon and will compete in that event on May 27 in Gulf Shores, Ala.