COLUMBIA, S.C. – The MACU Men's Track and Field team wrapped up a historic weekend at its first NCCAA Outdoor National Championships on Friday as Jaden Rodriguez and Mohamed Zairi impressively came away with third-place finishes in the 5000-meter and 800-meter events to earn NCCAA All-America accolades.
 
EVENTS

• 4x800-Meter Relay
  • Competing in their first and only relay race of the outdoor season on Thursday night, the four-man team of Jaden Rodriguez, Alexander Pebeahsy, Collin Seely and Mohamed Zairi put together a strong showing in the event as the Evangels crossed the finish line in sixth place with a time of 7:58.07. The result scored MACU points toward the team results.
  • While it was the first outdoor relay for MACU, the mark blew away the program's record mark during the indoor season when the four-person team of Aidan Collins, Cameron Pearson, Pebeahsy and Seely ran an 8:20.08 at the NCCAA Indoor Championships on Feb. 8.
• 5000-Meter
  • Opening up the day with an early morning race on Friday, Jaden Rodriguez made history for MACU in the 5000-meter as he finished on the podium with a third-place time of 15:24.00, shattering his own program record by more than eight seconds.
  • The result in the event allowed Rodriguez to become the program's first NCCAA Outdoor Track & Field All-American after the freshman from Blanchard, Okla. became the program's first NCCAA Cross Country All-American in the fall.
  • Connor Gerth also put together a strong showing in the 5k event as his time of 16:12.54 was good enough to come in eighth place to score a team point for the Evangels.
  • Overall, the Evangels as a whole scored seven points in the 5k race between Rodriguez's (6) and Gerth's (1) results.
• 1500-Meter
  • Alexander Pebeahsy netted the Evangels a point in the 1500-meter event as he turned in an eighth-place time of 4:07.77 to set a new personal best and reset the fifth-fastest 1.5k time in MACU's record book.
  • Connor Gerth also competed in the 1500-meter race, finishing with a 17^th place time of 4:22.62.
• 800-Meter
  • After Jaden Rodriguez garnered MACU's first All-America finish in the 5000-meter, it wouldn't take long for Mohamed Zairi to notch MACU its second All-America accolade in the 800-meter run in the afternoon. Much like Rodriguez, Zairi put together a record-breaking performance to place third in the event, crossing the finish line in 1:53.71 to top his previous record of 1:56.14 set in the Pittsburg State Tune-Up on Apr. 17.
  • The result wrapped up the scoring for MACU as the six-point effort allowed the Evangels as a team to score 17 points, placing 16^th out of 26 teams at the meet.
  • Collin Seely also set his career-best mark in the 800-meter event by the slimmest of margins at 0.01 seconds after crossing the line in 2:00.70 to place 22^nd. Seely previously ran a 2:00.71 at the SAC Championships in Fort Worth, Texas on Apr. 26.