Husky distance runners conclude season at Saint Francis
JOLIET, Ill. - Three Michigan Tech track and field student athletes participated in the St. Francis Fighting Chance Invitational over the weekend, in search of NCAA qualifying times for Nationals on May 27. Top distance runner Emily Byrd finished fourth in the 10,000 meters with a time of 36:07.76. She edged under the NCAA provisional standard of 36:35 for the second time this spring and is currently No. 23 on the qualification list. Previously, Byrd posted a season best time of 35:48.51 at the 54th annual Hillsdale College Gina Relays on April 22.
"The women's field is incredibly fast this year, and they're taking a reduced field size of around 15 due to COVID-19 this year," said head coach Kristina Owen. "This was Emily's last season with us, and we all really wanted her to cap it off with one more shot at the big show. It would have taken a time of around 35:00 flat to be in the top 15 on the list. She's disappointed, but taking it in stride. She's looking forward to Minneapolis and a new job in engineering, and making plans for training and racing post-college. We can't wait to see where she goes from here."
Luke Moore dropped another two seconds from his personal best over the weekend in the 1500 meters for Tech. Moore had a slow start to the season, but steadily improved throughout. "I am super pumped for Luke, and for the strength of our Mid-D event group," Owen said. "We now have four men consistently running under four minutes in the 1500 meters, which is a great sign for the depth of our program."
Robbie Watling took eighth place in the 5000 meters with a time of 15:31.29, narrowly topping his personal best by 0.1 seconds. "Robbie is a 10K specialist, and we've seen him go faster than this as a 5K split of longer races, so we know he's capable of even more," said Owen. "We've got one more year with him and I look forward to seeing what he can do next year for cross country and track."
Huskies men's and women's outdoor track and field began with the St. Norbert Equinox Meet on March 20 and concluded Sunday at St. Francis. Michigan Tech had mixed results this spring. Highlights included setting 21 personal bests at the Golden Grizzlies, Katherine Jarvis's shotput school record at the GLIAC Championships, and Emily Byrd's two NCAA provisional marks in the 10,000 meters. Braden Reichl posted National marks with a time of 9:08.96 in steeplechase and Clayton Sayen set marks in the 800 meters (1:51.47) and the 1500 meters (3:48.61).