AZUSA, Calif. – The St. Olaf College men's and women's track and field teams sent five individuals to California to compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational from Thursday through Saturday at Cougar Athletic Stadium.
Junior
Will Kelly, senior
Logan Bocovich, junior
Demetri Lord, and senior
Lucas Kramarczuk represented the men's program, while senior
Rebekah Salfer was the lone representative for the St. Olaf women. Kelly, Bocovich, Lord, and Salfer all posted top-15 national performances at the meet.
On Thursday evening, Kelly started the meet by recording the third-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 8:58.95 to finish 39th in a field that included just five Division III runners among the 132 finishers. The time moved Kelly up from fourth to second on St. Olaf's all-time list and made him one of just two Oles to break the nine-minute barrier – the first in 41 years – along with David Peterson '82 in 1982 (8:57.36).
Additionally, Kelly's time was just three-and-a-half seconds outside the top-25 all-time performer list in NCAA Division III history and was within 20 seconds of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) record of 9:39.80 set by Jim Gathje of Saint John's University in 1985. On Friday morning, Kelly placed 13th in section three of the 5,000-meter run in 14:23.97, which is the third-fastest performance in the event this season, trailing Bocovich and his times from the WashU Distance Carnival.
The next morning, Bocovich broke the school record in the 10,000-meter run set by Phil Meyer '15 in 2015 by crossing the line in 29:35.40 to finish sixth. The time ranks seventh in the country this season, as the senior improved his personal-best time by just under 75 seconds. His time also was just over two seconds off the top-25 all-time performer list in NCAA Division III history and was less than 10 seconds off the MIAC record of 29:26.10 established by Nic Mancieu of the University of St. Thomas in 1983. Bocovich now owns top-11 national times in two events this season.
On Thursday and Friday, Lord and Salfer both compiled top-15 national scores in the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively. Lord used personal-best performances in the 100-meter dash (11.02), 400-meter run (51.89), and 1,500-meter run (4:49.62) to earn 6,054 points to place seventh in Group C. The junior's score ranks 12th in the country and bettered his own ninth-best standing on St. Olaf's all-time list by 32 points.
Salfer registered 4,145 points in the heptathlon to finish 11th in Group D, as her score ranks 14th in NCAA Division III. The senior capped the seven-event competition with a PR in the 800-meter run (2:30.36).
To close out the meet, Kramarczuk was in action in both the 110-meter hurdles and the triple jump on Saturday. The senior took 16th in the 110-meter hurdles (14.64) and was 21st in the triple jump (14.07m, 46' 2"), breaking onto St. Olaf's all-time list in eighth and posting a top-30 national mark in the latter event.
The Oles divide their teams between the Phil Esten Challenge in La Crosse, Wis. and the Holst Invitational at Concordia-St. Paul next weekend.
