Bruins capture two individual titles at Jim Dutcher Invite

CRETE, Neb. -- Bruin athletes were individual champions in two events at Saturday's Jim Dutcher Invitational hosted by Doane University. Meet conditions were cool and breezy, which made fast times a premium for the day, but two Bruin men prevailed over the field of mostly NAIA competition, taking home wins in the men's 1500-meter run and the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Victory number one for the day came from Richard Marcoux as he sliced 0.01 seconds from the school record he established last week and won the 1500-meter race by running 4:04.84 in the field of nineteen athletes.

Collin Kotz concluded the day's events with a victory as well, crossing the line first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, an event he also won at last week's Sioux City Relays. Kotz was just off last week's time as he recorded a 9:46.48, still the second-fastest in Bruin history.

In the men's 800-meter run, Robbie Siford ran to a 14th-place finish in a personal best time of 2:09.62, while Saba Khvichava ran to tenth place in 2:06.54.

The Bruin women had a lone entrant in Alicia Rivera Camargo, who ran a tough double, opening with a 5:20.59 and sixth-place finish in the 1500-meter run and then coming back with a 2:44.04 in the 800-meter run to conclude her day.

Head Coach Craig Christians: "It just wasn't a great day to run fast but I'm always proud of the effort I see out of the group. For our little team to win two races is a nice accomplishment. I know everyone still has some goals to achieve this season. We've usually run pretty well at Wesleyan (next meet), so I'm looking forward to lining up and racing again in a few days."

The Bruins have a quick turnaround with a meet on Thursday (Apr. 25), the Prairie Wolf Invitational, hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan in Lincoln.