PITTSBURG, Kan. (Feb. 13, 2016) – Oklahoma Christian's indoor 4x400-meter relay record had stood for 50 years, but now it's been broken twice in the span of 15 days.
The quartet of
Sawyer Pehkonen,
Landon Huslig,
Ryan Lutterloh and
Joshua Jones recorded a 3:14.54 time in the event on Saturday at the Indoor Gorilla Classic, snapping their own mark of 3:15.74, set on the same track at Pittsburg State's Robert W. Plaster Center on Jan. 29.
Before that, the OC record had been 3:16.04, set in 1966 by Larry Rehl, Roscoe Cogburn, Jim Butler and Hal Ballou. It had been the oldest mark in the university's record book.
The current OC quartet's time Saturday ranked as the 14th-fastest this season in NCAA Division II and surpassed the national qualifying standard in the event, putting the Eagles in position to go to the Division II Indoor Championships, set to be run at Pitt State on March 11-12.
OC finished fourth among 39 teams on Saturday. A second OC 4x400 team of
Grant Smith,
Austin Davis,
Austin Wallace and
Colin McCaskill finished 30th in 3:28.76.
Four Eagles posted personal-best or season-best times in other events. In the meet's unseeded 3,000-meter race, sophomore
Sisay Gillock finished seventh among 30 runners with a season-best time of 8:48.61, while sophomore
Emory Lobley's time of 1:55.73 in the 800 meters was his personal best and placed him fifth among 38 runners. He was the top Division II finisher in the race.
In the seeded 3,000-meters race, senior
Roberto Diaz recorded a season-best time of 8:28.19 to finish eighth among 14 runners, while junior
Kyle Broaddrick's time of 8:34.44 was a personal best. He finished 10th.
Pehkonen placed third among 46 runners in the 400 meters with a time of 48.90 seconds. He also was the top Division II finisher. Huslig also competed in the 60-meter hurdles, placing 13th among 32 competitors in 8.51 seconds.
"Overall, we had a good meet," OC coach
Wade Miller said. "I'm happy with the way we competed this weekend."
The Eagles' final regular-season indoor meet will be the Nebraska Tune-Up next Friday in Lincoln, Neb.
