Santa Clara senior Kevin Oliver, making his season debut in the 10,000 meter race, made yet another mark on the track school record list by taking down the longest standing mark on the books with an impressive performance, running 29:47.08, at Mt. Sac Relays. Mt. Sac, historically a fantastic venue for distance performances, set the stage for Oliver's performance, which knocked 61 seconds off former Bronco Rory O'Flahtery's 1985 record.
Oliver is No. 36 on the NCAA West Region 10k list. The NCAA Championship first round will take the top 48 declared athletes in the event. Oliver would join Michael Delaurenti as the only two to ever qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Delaurenti ran in the first round of the 2008 NCAA meet in the 3000m Steeplechase after qualifying at the Brutas Hamilton Invitational at Cal in mid-April 2008.
"This will likely be the mark we settle with for Kevin and his shot into the round one meet," said Cushman. "Historically this mark has always been good enough to advance to the first round of the NCAA Championships."
"The race went out in a modest 4:52 first mile, which actually played to Kevin's strength," said Bronco assistant coach Pete Cushman. "Kevin generally does well warming up into races, and likes to negative split. After the first mile, he settled into a series of 4:44 miles before making his final kick for the finish. This was the ideal race with great conditions and national class competition, and Kevin took full advantage of the opportunity. Felipe and I are really excited for Kevin, and happy to see all that hard work pay off in a big way."
Oliver covered the first 5k of his record performance in 14:55, and notched down the pace over the last 12 and a half laps, covering the final 5k in 14:52. His last lap was run in 65 seconds, which helped pick off a few competitors and put him eighth overall in the A heat.
Junior Moises Venegas also competed in the 10,000 meter race at Mt. Sac, running 31:30.01 in the 25 lap event.
Sophomore Allie Sibole competed in the 1,500 meter event, running 4:43.90. Sibole will look to improve on her metric mile mark this upcoming week at the Brutus Hamilton Invite hosted by University of California in Berkeley.
Senior Hayley Ney competed in the 5,000 meters at Mt. Sac, running 17:38.44 in the April 19 nightcap.
At UC Davis, the rest of the team team competed at the Woody Wilson Invitational on April 19-20. Leading the way for the Broncos was sophomore Audrey Hiatt. Hiatt nearly joined Oliver in setting a school record, but fell a few hundredths of a second short. Danielle Miller's record of 11:18.39 was safe as Hiatt crossed the line in 11:18.55. It was a big personal best for Hiatt who's previous best was 11:50.
"Audrey looked great, a little more work on her water jump landing and she will give the 11:00 barrier a real scare next time out," said Bronco head coach Felipe Montoro.
Also running well were Kayla Germany who notched a six-second personal best in windy conditions on Saturday afternoon. Germany ran 4:51.78.
The Broncos resume action on April 26 at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational hosted by Cal.
