Day #1 Results (.pdf) I Day #2 Heat Sheets (.pdf)

FARGO, N.D. - The IUPUI men's track team flexed its distance muscles on Friday night (Feb. 27) on day one of The Summit League Indoor Championships, gaining the program's first-ever conference titles in school history. Sophomore Joey Zielinski started the excitement by winning the 3,000m race and the distance medley relay quartet of Jeremy Breedlove, Dakota Dubbs, Nathan Westfall and Isaiah White followed suit with a thrilling relay win. 

"It was a good night for us," IUPUI Head Coach Chuck Koeppen said. "The guys were fired up tonight. It was really a big day for us and our program."

Zielinski set the tone, winning an expected tight battle in the 3,000m race in a time of 8:21.71, missing a school record by less than a second. He fended off North Dakota State's Lucas Degree by more than two seconds while teammate Miguel Lozano just missed an All-League berth, placing fourth at 8:25.96. Sophomore Xavier Reed also scored in the race, placing eighth in a personal best time of 8:34.49. 

"I don't want to put words in Joey's mouth, but he said he felt really good and it almost felt easy for him tonight," Koeppen said. "He looked really strong and really smooth. He's got a good chance to come back and win the 5K tomorrow and with Miguel just missing all-conference, I think he'll be really fired up tomorrow.

"I thought Xavier Reed ran a good race for us too to go out and score like that in a run a big PR."

With Zielinski as the Jaguars' trendsetter, the DMR group capped an memorable night for the Jags inside the Shelly Ellig Indoor Track & Field Facility. Running the event for the first time this season, the group obliterated the school record by winning the race in a time of 10:16.00. Running the final mile, Westfall sealed the win, stretching out a lead over the final 600 meters as the Jags won by almost two seconds. 

"It was a little reminiscent of cross country, seeing that relay team win," Koeppen said. "That's essentially what it was was like cross country. To have two freshmen on that team go out there and get it done is pretty neat. Each one of those guys ran about as well as they could. 

"That was probably the most exciting thing of the night. I told the guys this too, but we had guys lined up all around the track to encourage those guys running and everyone was kind of going crazy. Everyone really got involved in that win."

Despite competing in just two events on Friday, IUPUI sits in fourth-place with 26 points after five scored events. South Dakota leads the six-team field with 60 points and host North Dakota State is second with 55 points. 

The meet is expected to resume at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow with the Jaguars first taking the track in the mile at 2:20 p.m. Eastern.