The Men's Track & Field squad made great strides in their development this past weekend in a pair of regional events.  Head Coach, Dante Ottolini sent a handful of guys to the Big Meet Friday night hosted by Grand Valley State University and the remainder of the squad competed on Saturday at Calvin College.

In Friday night's meet, Simon Reidsma and Dan Garza tested their aerobic strength by racing in the 5000m run.  Garza clocked a PR time of 15:45 in his college debut and Reidsma also posted a PR time of 15:19.  Reidsma moved himself into the number four spot for SAU on the All-Time list.  Chris Conrad clocked a new PR in 600m in 1:22.65 and now owns the number five spot for SAU.

The Calvin meet picked up where GVSU's Big Meet left off with many new personal best performances for the Cougars.  Uriah Rogers clocked a PR of 22.99 in the 200m and now sits at the number four spot on All-Time list. 

Ian Miller won the 400m and posted a new indoor PR clocking a 51.53 and that moved him into the tenth spot for SAU.  He was followed closely by Max Watters who also ran a PR clocking a 51.80. 

Dewayne Gray won the 60m dash with a time of 7.00 after clocking a 6.98 (60m) and 22.28 (200m) the night before at the Big Meet.   Jared Lauber finished runner up in the Mile with a new PR time of 4:25.20 and closed with an amazing strong finish. 

The 4x400 relay team of Ian Miller, Max Watters, Taylor Swihart and Dewayne Gray clocked a season best of 3:27.80 without two of the Cougars normal starters. 

"It was great to see the guys hard work paying off," said Ottolini.  "It is very hopeful given we are still very early in their training cycles.  However, what impresses me the most is the way they do what they do.  I had a starter come up to me at the meet and talk about the character of my guys and how one of them thanked him for starting the race and how much that meant to him.  When this happens, it is more of an accomplishment, to me, than winning gold in the Olympics!  I am so proud of them."

The Cougars will travel to Bourbannais, IL to compete in the NCCAA National Championships on February 21-22.