By Andrew Cross

The track teams at The Master’s University hit seven national qualifying marks and numerous personal bests in their outdoor track opener at the Oxy Distance Carnival Saturday.

The Mustangs had great success in the 800m, with All-Americans Suzie Johnson and Ellen Palmgren setting personal bests and A standards with times of 2:10.9 and 2:09.8, respectively. This was a school record for Palmgren and the No. 1 time in the country.

Senior Rocky Rowedder also set a massive four-second personal best in the 800m, improving his time from 2:01 to 1:57. Rowedder has been on a streak of impressive performances, setting personal bests in the 1000m (2:37) and 600m (1:27) in the past two meets.

“I’m thankful to the Lord for the race today. I am really blessed to run on a team where the goal is to glorify Christ in our sport,” Rowedder said. “He gives strength, and He alone is worthy of praise.”

In the 5000m, the Mustangs continued to improve, with multiple national qualifying marks. Hannah Fredericks won the women’s 5000m with a time of 17:06, qualifying for nationals. Brooke Creagan, Madi Payne, Megan Turner and Allie Methum also set personal bests in the 5000m.

Brint Laubach headlined the men’s 5000m with an exceptional tactical race, in which he worked his way to the front pack to finish fifth in a loaded field. Laubach ran 14:16, which was a personal best of almost 20 seconds. This qualified Laubach for nationals and was the fastest time in the country.

Hunter Romine (14:45) and Connor Ybarra (14:45) also hit the NAIA B Standard in the 5k. Romine, a 2023 Indoor All-American, improved his time by 50 seconds from his last race to snag a national qualifying mark.

Senior Eli Szumera set an NAIA A standard on his first javelin throw, with a toss of 57.98m to win the competition. Tommy Patton also set a school record of 44.24m in the hammer throw.

The Mustangs will compete next at the Ross and Sharon Irwin Meet on March 16 in San Diego, Calif.