Epic Night For Thunderbird T&F Highlighted By Mike Tate’s Record 5K

Another night brought more huge performances for the Thunderbird track and field teams, as they were split up between the Husky Classic in Seattle, Washington and the Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Husky Classic

Mike Tate not only broke Cam Levins’ school record in the men’s indoor 5,000-meter on Saturday, he set the No. 1 time in the entire NCAA. Tate ran a 13:37.33, which broke Levin’s previous mark of 13:38.12 which was set in 2012.

Tate, who is in his senior season for Southern Utah, sits second all-time in the outdoor 5K but was able to claim the top spot indoor on Friday night.

In the same event Matthew Wright ran a 14:04.92, which was the fourth fastest time in school history. Wright was also named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic team on Friday.

Elsewhere in Seattle, Angie Nickerson ran the second fastest women’s indoor 5,000-meter with a time of 16:30.95. She was just .9 off the school record. In the same event Madison Fruchey ran a personal best of 16:52.21.

Dan Kirby Invitational

While school records were going down in Seattle, the same thing was happening in Albuquerque.

Linnea Saltz ran a new school record in the 600-meter with an altitude adjusted time of 1:33.34. That broke her own school record of 1:34.70.

In the 200-meter Sinclair Watson set a new school record as well, running an adjusted 24.74. The previous record was held by Christina Day who ran a 24.76 in 2010.

For the second week in a row, Tre James and Justin Lewis both broke the school record in the 200-meter dash, and they did it tying each other for the second week in a row. Both James and Lewis ran an adjusted 21.18 to once again break into the top spot in the record book.

Dual sport athlete Isaiah Diego-Williams ran the sixth fastest time in the 200-meter dash all-time, finishing with an adjusted time of 21.60.

Moving Forward

Both events will wrap up on Saturday with both squads looking for more impressive performances.

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Story By
SUU Athletic Strategic Communications