Recently, the SXU Men’s Track Team finished as National Qualifiers at the Chicagoland Championships this past Saturday, February 15, 2014.
Among the 17 teams in attendance at the event, the Cougars achieved 6th place.
With this 6th place claim, the Cougars have also achieved the highest team finish in the program’s history!
What an awesome acomplishment! Way to go Cougs!
What is most impressive is that the Chicagoland Championships included teams from all three NCAA divisions and the NAIA as well.
What is more noteworthy is the fact that our SXU Men’s Track Team claimed the highest rank among any other NAIA team in the meet.
The Cougars effort was that of the entire squad. However, there are some outstanding Cougars that need to mentioned.
Among those Cougars are Brian Crcoran, Shane Kenney and Janis Pastars.
All three runners performed very well in the 1000-Meter Run and posted excellent times.
Corcoran and Kenney each ran NAIA national qualifying times of 2:33.22 and 2:33.58. Janis Pastars ran an impressive 2:36.48.
SXU’s Men’s Track Coach Ed McAllister had this to say about the meet, “Overall, this was the best meet that we have had as a team…the three qualifiers (Pastars, Corcoran and Kenney) all performed splendidly. We have three more who are very close to reaching the national qualifying standard (Wiafe, Stancato and Krakowski) and I feel that each of them have the potential to make it to Nationals as well. We have a series of ‘Last Chance’ meets this weekend, and I feel strongly that we will put up even better marks at them.”
The Cougars look to wrap up the regular indoor season with a split squad this weekend, running at Grand Valley University in Allendale, Mich., on Friday, February 21, and at the University of Chicago in Chicago on Saturday, February 22.
Frank Markasovic
Sports Editor