STORM LAKE - The Southwestern men's 4x800 relay team of Dillon Starlin, Brandon Briley, Cam Swapsy, and Zach Roome punched its ticket to nationals Saturday at the Region 11 Indoor Championships at Buena Vista University.
Four weeks after running 8:05.55 on the same track, the Spartans entered the weekend needing to cut 3.85 seconds off that time to run a time that would convert to the national qualifying standard of 7:54.93 seconds. The Spartan quartet delivered, finishing third with a time of 8:00.17, which converts to 7:53.40 for a flat 200 meter track to a banked 200 meter track. Starlin (2:03.88), Briley (2:01.42), and Swapsy (1:59.20) all ran season-best splits, while Roome anchored the team in 1:55.68. Roome made up 6 seconds on Iowa Western, who held on for second place in 7:57.07. Iowa Central won in a meet record time of 7:48.50.
"Goal No. 1 for this whole year, going all the way back to last spring when I recruited these guys, was to qualify for the 4x800 relay to nationals," said Scott Vicker, director of cross country/track & field. "Everything these guys did throughout cross country season was to help them for this moment. Accomplishing this team goal, and having it be a total team effort, was such a satisfying moment for these four guys and for myself. They stepped up in a pressure situation and got the job done. But now we have more work to do to accomplish our goal of being All-American."
Currently, the Spartan 4x800 relay team ranks 12th nationally in the NJCAA. The top eight teams at nationals, March 7-8 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, earn All-America honors.
"We know we will almost certainly have to run sub-7:50 to give ourselves a shot at being All-America, but I think that is doable for us," Vicker said. "None of our four guys have run yet what they are capable of. If we can all come together at the same time at nationals with our best performances, we will give ourselves a chance."
The Spartan runners posted PRs throughout the weekend, highlighted by freshman Jacob Driskill taking another 18 seconds off his 5K PR. Driskill ran 17:05.70 to finish 11th in the 5K. In the 60 meter dash, Jedd Weinkoetz and Peyton Embree both ran PRs, running 7.67 seconds and 7.73 seconds. The relay team of Roome, Zach Thornburg, Swapsy, and Briley finished fourth in the distance medley relay Friday evening, and the relay team of Thornburg, Swapsy, Briley, and Starlin finished fifth in the 4x400 on Saturday afternoon.
As a team, Southwestern's men scored 15 points to finish in a tie for sixth place with Southeastern. The Spartan women scored two team points, thanks to Abbi Richter's seventh-place finish in the weight throw. Richter threw 11.84 meters to close out her indoor season.
Southwestern will return to the track March 7-8 at Texas Tech University for the NJCAA Indoor National Championships. Qualifiers to the meet are the 4x800 relay and Roome in both the 800 meters and the 1,000 meters. Roome will run the 800 meter prelims at 6:20 p.m. Friday, March 7. The 4x800 relay team will compete at 12:45 p.m. Saturday, March 8. If Roome qualifies for finals of the 800 meters, he will run again at 3:05 p.m. Saturday, March 8.
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