The Dallas Baptist University Patriot Track and Field Teams traveled to Joplin, Missouri, to take part in the Missouri Southern State University Baymont Inn/Fazoli's Indoor Invitational on January 29-30. Overall, the weekend produced two new Patriot school records and three individual wins.
On Friday night, the Lady Patriots' DMR Squad of Senior Laura Mucho (1200m Leg), Junior Tabbitha Ashford (400m Leg), Senior Ashley Alford (800m Leg), and Senior Hannah Steffan (1600m Leg) set the school indoor record for the 4000 meter event with a time of 12:23.23. They easily outdistanced the field to claim first place, just missed qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships by 3.23 seconds. Also on Friday, Sophomore distance runner Zach Morgan qualified for the NCCAA Indoor National Meet with a personal best time of 9:12.29 as he finished 15th out of 27 competitors.
Saturday saw two more victories by the Patriots, both coming in the individual 5000 meters. Sophomore Linet Kibet who doubled back from the mile earlier in the day to won the women's 5000 meter race in a time of 19:37.12. Her time qualified her for the NCCAA Indoor National Meet. Kibet also finished 11th in the mile, running a time of 5:33.48.
Senior Felix Rodriguez picked up the last win the for the Patriots in the 5000 meters in record setting fashion in a time of 15:04.26. The time clipped 3 seconds from Assistant Coach Matt Hansen's previous school record of 15:07. Rodriguez was followed in by Sophomore John Millsap who ran an 11 second personal best of 15:16.90 to place 4th. Millsap's time is the 5th fastest time for the 5000 meters in the Patriots' record book.
The Patriots qualified seven total athletes for the NCCAA Indoor Championships, with Laura Mucho provisionally for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Mucho's time of 5:04.73 currently ranks her 17th in the country.
The NCCAA qualifiers are:
Jordan Koser, Mile, 4:33.45
Tabbitha Ashford, 800m, 2:24.63
Ashley Spivey, 800m, 2:27.63
Linet Kibet, 5000m, 19:37.12
Felix Rodriguez, 5000m, 15:04.26
John Millsap, 5000m, 15:16.90
Zach Morgan, 3000m, 9:12.29
The Patriots will finish up their Indoor regular season this weekend as they travel to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.