Men’s Track & Field Ready to Start Indoor Season at PSU Crimson & Gold Invitational

OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Track & Field team will open its 2025-26 indoor season this weekend at the Pittsburg State Crimson & Gold Invitational at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kan. on Friday and Saturday.

EVENTS

5000-Meter Run - Friday - 7:15 PM
- Participants: Jaden Rodriguez, Lucky Maila, Aidan Collins, Canaan Motley
Mile Run - Saturday - 1:50 PM
- Participants: Connor Gerth, Daniel Ponce, Canaan Motley
800-Meter Run - Saturday - 5:30 PM
- Participants: Chase Cotarelo, Collin Seely
4x400-Meter Relay - Saturday - 7:20 PM
- Participants: Chase Cotarelo, Collin Seely, Matthew Kletke, Jonathan Avila
3000-Meter Run - Saturday - 8:55 PM
- Participants: Jaden Rodriguez, Lucky Maila

NOTES

Mid-America Christian will be slightly short-handed for its first indoor track & field as Mohamed Zairi, who earned NCCAA All-American honors last spring will be unavailable to compete. However, the Evangels do bring back a well-spring of experienced competitors and newcomers competing in five different events.
For MACU's returners, Connor Gerth will compete in the Mile Run event. It will be the first time that the sophomore from Tuttle, Okla. will be competing in the event after primarily running in the 800-Meter and 1500-Meter events last season. Joining him in the Mile will be Daniel Ponce and Canaan Motley, who each put up strong marks for MACU during their first seasons competing during the cross country season. After competing for NCAA D-II Southern Nazarene last season, Ponce put up the best time in the mile for the Crimson Storm with a 4:27.30 at the very same venue at the Russ Jewett Indoor Gorilla Classic on Feb. 14-15.
Another one of MACU's returners, Aidan Collins will be running along with Lucky Maila and Canaan Motley in the 5000-Meter event. At last year's NCCAA Indoor National Championships from Feb. 7-8, Collins posted a career-best 15:59.45 to place 16^th overall in the event. Meanwhile, Maila put together strong numbers at Fort Hays Tech last season, posting a 5k best at the NJCAA Region VI Championships with a time of 15:42.66 to finish 12^th overall. For Motley, he will be running in his first collegiate event as an incoming freshman.
Maila will also be running in the 3000-Meter, notching a time of 8:54.3 at the CU Invitational on Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2025 during his JUCO tenure.
In his second season with the Evangels, Collin Seely will be running in the 800-Meter alongside newcomer Evangel Chase Cotarelo. Seely's top 800 time during his freshman campaign came at the Sooner Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships when he crossed the line in 2:00.70. Meanwhile, the freshman in Cotarelo will be running in his first ever collegiate track & field meet.
The Evangels will be running in the 4x400-meter relay event with Cotarelo and Seely running in their second race of the meet while Matthew Kletke and Jonathan Avila running in the other legs. Kletke will be making his Evangels track debut while Avila was one of MACU's top runners during the cross country season as a freshman, earning All-SAC honors.