SOUTH BEND, Ind. - IUPUI senior track standout Eric Hoffman put up a strong showing as the Jaguars' lone entrant at the Meyo Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame on Saturday (Feb. 5). Taking advantage of a strong field, Hoffman finished fourth in the slower of the two heats in a time of 8:30.29. 

The race went out slow and was tactical from the opening gun as Hoffman was running against foes from the Big Ten, Atlantic-10 and Horizon League, among others. Ultimately he finished 18th of 48 runners, spread across two races. 

"It was a solid day for Eric today," head coach Justin Roeder said. "He put himself up there early to compete and hung tough for fourth in his heat. Each week we have seen steady progress from him in training, so in three weeks time we know he'll be ready for conference racing."

"I'm glad to be able to compete at such a high level meet," Hoffman said. "I'm fairly pleased with today's result, especially since it's only our second competition of the year. Now it's time to recover and gear up for Grand Valley next week."

Hoffman and his teammates are slated for the GVSU Big Meet next weekend in Allendale, Mich.