ROCHESTER, Mich. - The IU Indianapolis men's track team got off to a strong start at the 2026 #HLTF Outdoor Championships at Oakland University on Friday night (May 8), earning points in the 10,000m event and sending three individuals to Sunday's finals of the 1,500m event. 

Sophomore Joey LaPatra led the way for the Jaguars in the 10K, clocking a time of 31:09.43 to earn a seventh-place finish. LaPatra was tucked in among a deep secondary pack for virtually the entire race and gutted his way to the finish line to hang onto a scoring spot. Veteran Matt Mitsch, who led the secondary pack for the bulk of the race, hung on to finish in a personal best time of 31:29.96 and sophomore Sam Grimes also ran a personal best time of 31:46.13. Another sophomore, Carter Schorr, also earned a new personal best with a time of 32:35.14. 

Earlier in the night, the Jaguars flexed some muscle in the 1,500m event, earning three spots among the 12 finalists, led by sophomore Riley Nixon and junior Luke Shappell. The duo took the top two spots in their heat to earn automatic qualifiers to the finals with Nixon finishing at 3:52.98 and Shappell just off his shoulder at 3:53.24. Freshman Eli Oetken followed with an automatic berth with a third-place finish in his heat in a time of 3:56.88. 

In the third and final heat, freshman Zach Risner ran a time of 4:02.32 and classmate Isaac Riggs ran a personal best time of 4:04.70. 

The Jaguars will compete in just two events on Saturday with two entries in the 800m prelims and three slated to run the 3,000m steeplechase to end the evening.