Posted: Mar 26, 2022
Sayen tops school record at Raleigh Relays
RALEIGH, N.C. - Michigan Tech junior Clayton Sayen and redshirt freshman Drew Kolodge qualified and competed in the Raleigh Relays from Thursday to Saturday and both exceeded expectations with strong performances in distance events.
Thursday night, Sayen started in the 1500 meters and set an NCAA provisional mark with a career-best time of 3:45.84.
Sayen also topped Jani Lane's 2014 school-record 1500 meter time by around one second (previous record: 3:46.53). Sayen won his heat by aggressively fighting off the competition, including Nick Miller (Ohio State) late in the race. Sayen's finished 32nd overall amongst a field of over 200 runners from all-NCAA Divisions.
"Coming into the race I was feeling more confident than ever before which helped lead every step of the race," Sayen said following the race. "I knew I had the capability to break our school record, so I pushed hard to make sure the race was fast enough. There's still more to come and I'm excited to get another opportunity and get back on the track."
"Clayton ran a gritty performance to take the win for his heat," said head coach Kristina Owen. "It was incredibly rewarding to see him set a new personal record, a new school record, and hit a provo qualifying time for NCAA's this early in the season. His finish time should be competitive on the final qualification lists, but we'll have to see how everyone else is running this season to see if it stays high enough to get him into the NCAA Championships."
Kolodge (Clay, Michigan) made his first appearance outdoor track appearance since 2019 and posted a time of 14:35.84 in the 5,000 meters, beating his previous best by a margin of more than 14 seconds. Kolodge was seventh in his heat and took 125th out of 223 qualifying finishers.
"I was very excited about Drew's performance," Owen said. "His time of is wicked fast and the 5K isn't even his primary event. I'm so excited to see him mature and develop into a runner who can be one of our leaders for the future. He's rock solid and stubborn in a way that no level of competition intimidates him. I'm looking forward to seeing him run the 10K later in the season."
Competing against an afternoon headwind, Sayen competed again on Saturday in the 800 meters. There he placed 26th out of 145 with a time of 1:52.60, around one second shy of a personal record.
"The wind ate up most of the field today, including me," said Sayen. "I was happy with my execution though and another heat win was another goal met. I feel my fitness to run a fast 800 meters is definitely there so I'll pursue a National qualifying mark and hopefully the school record later on this season."
