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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Junior Eric Hoffman was one of 13 IUPUI men's runners to set a new personal best mark on Saturday (Jan. 11) as the Jaguars participated on day two of Purdue's Gene Edmonds Open inside Lambert Fieldhouse. Hoffman was the Jaguars' top finisher among eight IUPUI entries and 34 total runners in the mile to highlight a solid day for head coach Chuck Koeppen's squad. 

Hoffman won his heat in a time of 4:17.21 to ultimately finish fourth in the event, while Austin Ohm clocked a personal best time of 4:23.00 to finish 11th overall. Josh Whitaker (4:25.30) and Dakota Merkel (4:28.07) also clocked new personal best times, while senior Lucas Rhed won his heat in a time of 4:34.04 to pull away from his closest competition by more than three seconds. 

"We had some guys run pretty tough today," Koeppen said. "(Hoffman) is just a competitor and wants to win every time he's out there. I thought he did a nice job and I really thought some of the freshmen and new guys did a good job. They just show up and work their butts off and they're just going to keep getting better and better. I think we've got a really tough bunch of guys in this group."

"The first race of the season definitely went better than expected," Hoffman said. "I was able to get out there and stay patient as I kept moving up and eventually won the race. Overall, it was a great day for our team, especially for our freshmen."

Freshman Nate Kaiser finished third in the faster of the two heats of the 3,000m event in a time of 8:42.70 and was one of six IUPUI entries to establish a new personal best time. Fellow freshman Nick Perkins was just off his pace at 8:49.98 to place fourth and Eric Petersen was sixth at 8:55.34. Mitchell Gits won the second heat in a time of 8:57.97 and was followed closely by Brady Jarosinski at 8:58.15. IUPUI took four of the top five spots in the second heat as Solomon Barket was fourth at 9:10.04 and Mitchell Rans was fifth at 9:12.13. 

In the 800, Brooks Long set a new personal best time at 2:00.32 to finish fourth in his heat and fifth of 13 entrants overall. Noah Kramer was the Jaguars' next in line at 2:03.49, placing third in his race and seventh overall. 

IUPUI runners will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 18 in Fort Wayne when the Jaguars participate in the Mastodon Invitational. It marks IUPUI's second trip to Purdue Fort Wayne this indoor season after having run there back on Dec. 7 as well.