Men's Track and Field | 4/12/2015 2:53:00 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Bethel University men's track and field team returned to outdoor competition on Saturday at Hamline University following an extended layoff from the indoor season. Several of the men last competed in San Diego, California at Point Loma Nazarene University, which was the introductory competition of the 2015 outdoor season.

"We had some really good performances that we continued to build on from San Diego and our indoor season," said head coach Andrew Rock.

The Royals started the day with a sixth-place finish in their first 400-meter relay race of the season, notching a time of 43.73 seconds but leaving much room for improvement.  

Other notable performances in the sprints were freshman Nick Schwen in the 400-meter hurdles as well as Patrick Klamm and Elisha Hinton in the 200-meter dash, as all finished in the top-ten of their respective events.

Freshman David Huffman had a big day in the 800-meter run, as he bested his seed time by more than two seconds and finished in a time of 2:00.96.  Senior Josh Olson also had a significant personal best in the hammer throw with a distance of 45.34 meters, as he and teammate Bryce Deboer finished high in the event.  

The Royals ended the day with a solid showing in the 1600-meter relay, capturing a time of 3:25.52 which was good for a fourth-place finish.

Bethel's men will now look ahead to next weekend's competition at the Don Church Twilight meet in Wheaton, Illinois.  With just three meets left to prepare for the conference championships, Bethel will be looking to peak their performances at the most critical point of the season.