Click on the video below the story to watch the Carthage College meet recap.
On Friday, March 5, Sophomore Drew Clark competed at the famed New Balance Track and Field Center at the Armory Track in New York City where he dropped his school record in the men's one-mile run on a fast, banked track. He opened up his first lap at 59 seconds and came through his first 800 meters in 2:03, but was not able to stay on-pace for the last half of his race, finishing fifth in his heat at 4:14.34. He lowered his own school record by one second and some change. This lowers his provisional qualifying time, giving him a better "B" standard, but this does not give him an automatic run time to the indoor national championships next week, but does give him encouragement for the upcoming outdoor and next indoor season.
Elsewhere that same day at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, freshman Jacob Meier was in a very competitive mood as he and freshman Sam Nickell both stepped up to the line in the men's 800-meter run in their respective heats. Meier came through his first 400 meters at 57 seconds, which was his plan and let the rest happen. He was pulled through by a very fast competitor and overtook that runner on the final 50 meters as he grabbed first place in the meet with a personal best of 1:59.93. He is only two seconds and some change shy of the school record held by Mike Woodbury (1:57.22). Teammate Nickell raced hard, but still a little conservative in the opening 400 meters of his race, but was on-pace coming through his first 400 meters. Nickell opened up in the final 200 meters and ran an indoor personal best time of 2:07.04.
This concludes an exciting indoor season. These runners and other team members continue their training outside in hopes of pursuing faster times, personal outdoor records and have their sights on running national qualifying standards. Stay tuned!