PEORIA, Ill. - IUPUI sophomore Nate Kaiser set a new program record in the 8K and led the Jaguars to a third-place finish at the Bradley 'Pink' Classic on Friday (Oct. 15). Kaiser clocked a time of 24:06.5, clearing IUPUI's previous record by 15 seconds in placing fourth of 248 runners. 

Just behind him was Nick Perkins at 24:13.2, placing seventh overall to help fuel a strong IUPUI performance. 

"Kaiser and Perkins were awesome today. Those guys went out and went for it. They both got out pretty good and were in good position the whole race," head coach Chuck Koeppen said. "There were some good runners and good teams here, so it was cool to see our guys in the mix and out there competing with them.

"I'm proud of our whole group. I thought we ran tough and just had a really good day."

The Jaguars stayed fairly well bunched as their gap from one through five was less than a minute and the gap from one through seven was just over 70 seconds. 

Mitchell Rans placed 31st at 24:50.2 and Eric Hoffman clocked a time of 24:54.7 to place 40th. Eric Petersen rounded out the group at 25:05.1 and Alex Ratkovich was just off his pace at 25:14.1. 

Mitchell Gits capped the top seven at 25:17.6 and Keith Bye was eighth among IUPUI's entries at 27:06.2. 

Kaiser displaced Damon Pruett for the school record time while Perkins' time is the second-quickest in program history. It was easily the fastest-ever run by an IUPUI student-athlete at this event, previously held by Miguel Lozano who ran 23:34 in 2013. 

"We knew going in we were capable of hanging with some of the better ranked teams in the Midwest in No. 5 Wichita State and No. 6 EIU," Kaiser said. "We really wanted to go for it, so we got out well and Perkins and I worked together up front. 

"Hoffman really stepped up today as well. It was a good day, but we know we're capable of closing our 1-5 gap. We're putting this one behind us and focusing on conference in two weeks."

Wichita State won the event with 104 points, followed by Eastern Illinois' 125 points. IUPUI placed third at 137, immediately ahead of a pair of Big Ten teams in Iowa (151) and Nebraska (160). Nebraska's Dais Malebana won the race in a time of 23:41.1, finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of his closest competition. 

In the white race, Justin Amburgy was IUPUI's top finisher in 13th overall of 198 runners at 26:01.1. Wilson Whicker spun a time of 26:13.4 and Conor Fagan closed at 26:32.8. 

IUPUI will host the Horizon League Championships at Northview Church in Carmel on Saturday, Oct. 30. Selected IUPUI runners will compete in the Bulldog Invitational at Northview next Saturday, Oct. 22.