TOPEKA, Kan. – The MACU Men's Track and Field team had its last dress rehearsal before the NCCAA National Championships as the Evangels competed in the Washburn Open being held at the WU Indoor Track Facility on Friday and Saturday.
Competing in its first distance medley relay of the season, Mid-America Christian put together a solid showing as the tandem of Aidan Collins, Jaden Rodriguez, Collin Seely and Mohamed Zairi crossed the finish line in 10:48.50 to place 17th out of 21 teams and set the fastest DMR time in the NCCAA.
In the 5000-meter event, Mid-America Christian posted a pair of NCCAA National Championship qualifying times as Aidan Collins tallied a 16:19.66, setting the 25th best time on the qualifying list while Alexander Pebeahsy went 16:22.52 for the 27th-best mark in the NCCAA.
On Saturday, the only Evangel to run was Rodriguez in the 3000-meter and he greatly improved upon his career-best time as he crossed the finish line in 8:46.98 to place 34th out of 47 runners, bettering his time by nearly 12 seconds. At the moment, that new mark sets the seventh-fastest time at the NCCAA level.
Mid-America Christian will now make its preparations for the NCCAA National Championships, which will be held at the Doden Field House in Cedarville, Ohio from Feb. 7-8. Collins, Connor Gerth, Cameron Pearson, Pebeahsy, Rodriguez and Seely will be planning to make the trip for MACU's first ever trip to the indoor championships.
