OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Track & Field team continues its indoor season on Saturday as the Evangels head to Pittsburg, Kansas once again for the NAIA/JUCO Challenge, hosted by Pittsburg State University at the Robert W. Plaster Center.

For sophomore Jaden Rodriguez, it will be his second time running in the venue after he competed in the prestigious Crimson & Gold Invitational back in December, running in the 800-meter and Mile events.

The Blanchard, Oklahoma native was sensational in that meet as he was able to set NCCAA National Championship qualifying marks in each event, turning in a time of 2:01.25 to place 32^nd out of 52 runners in the 800-meter before crossing the line in 4:29.35 in the Mile to place 27^th of 55 competitors.

Entering the weekend, Rodriguez currently owns the 10^th fastest time in the NCCAA in the 800-meter and the 14^th best time in the Mile.

In this trip, Rodriguez is set to compete in the 800-meter once again along with Cameron Pearson as well as the 3000-meter alongside Aidan Collins and Alex Pebeahsy. Pearson will also be running in the Mile event alongside Collin Seely and Conner Gerth.

For the first time in program history, the men's team will be competing in a relay event as Collins, Gerth, Pebeahsy and Seely will run in the 4x800-meter relay.

Overall, the Evangels put together a solid showing at the Owen Hewett Invitational hosted by the University of Oklahoma last weekend. In that meet, Rodriguez set his third NCCAA Nationals qualifying mark, this time in the 3000-meter with a time of 9:07.55, which currently sits 12^th in the country.

Seely and Gerth also put together solid times in the 800-meter event, each crossing the finish line with times of 2:11.37 and 2:11.49. They didn't quite meet the NCCAA National qualifying standard, but they do each rank 34^th and 35^th in the NCCAA.

Pebeahsy also turned in an NCCAA top 50 time in the Mile event as his time of 4:42.78 sits as the 35^th best time in the NCCAA. Collins owns a top 30 time in his own right in the 3000-meter as his 9:29.20 set last week is currently 27^th in the NCCAA.