RESULTS

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - Multiple nationally ranked performances highlighted the third meet of the indoor season for the men's track and field team. The Royals took on St. John's and Augsburg in their first triangular meet of the year. The Johnnies took the team title by scoring 81.5 points, while Bethel scored 68.5 points. Augsburg totaled 11 team points.

"We saw some of the fruits of our labor in our performances today," said Head Coach Andrew Rock. "Our team has been working hard and we saw their drive come out in the way their pursue their best."

The top performance of the day came in the 4x400m relay. The quartet of Joel Smith, Tyler Sealock, Jacob Parent, and Josh Sampson dominated the race while putting up the 5th best time in Division III - 3:20.92. Bethel won the race by over 14 seconds, while another Bethel team took 2nd place. 

Here is how the events of the day played out:

SPRINTS
The Royals came away with a clean sweep of the 60m hurdles early on in the meet.. Josh Sampson and David Myers took the top two spots and Jett Hutton-Lau earned 3rd place. Sampson matched his season best of 8.30 seconds, Myers ran 8.80, and Hutton-Lau ran 9.34, edging out 4th place by just 0.01. 

Bethel also snatched the top two spots in the 200m. Jacob Parent blasted out of the blocks, caught teammate Joel Smith and closed hard to win the race in 22.51. That time puts him 16th in Division III and 4th on Bethel's all-time list. Smith ran an indoor personal best of 22.80.

DISTANCE
Bethel earned its second sweep of the day in the mile. Ike Mendel won the race in 4:32.54 as he led wire to wire. Isaiah Hobus never quite let Mendel out of his sights and took 2nd in 4:34.40. Jon Sweeney kicked passed four runners in the final 150m to take 3rd in a personal best 4:36.99.

Freshman Nathan Smith continued his winning ways, this time, in the 800m. Smith used a well-timed kick to pull ahead of the field and finished in a time of 2:00.79. 

In a 3000m run that mimicked the tactics of a championship race, a pair of freshmen represented Bethel well by finishing 2nd and 3rd. After the entire field of runners went out at a pedestrian pace, Noah Meissner ran strong over the last 2000m and took 2nd overall with 9:14.92. Reece Thompson held on for a solid 3k debut of 9:19.27, good enough for 3rd.

FIELD
Gabe Irons was the top point scorer in the field events for Bethel. Irons won the shot put with a toss of 13.67m / 44'10.25" with his new found spin technique. Irons claimed 2nd place in the weight throw. After fouling several massive throws, he ended up with a mark of 15.74m / 51'7.75". Odera Onwualu took 3rd place in the weight with a personal best of 15.56m / 51'0.75".

Bethel also received a boost in points from the long jump. Multi-eventers Micah Smith (5.96m / 19'6.75" and Lukas Walton (5.86m / 19'2.75") took 1st and 2nd, respectively. 

UP NEXT
The Royals have one more meet scheduled for their regular season. On Saturday, February 27th, Bethel will host Hamline University for a second time this winter. Follow the Royals' progress on Instagram and Twitter @bethelxctf.