GULF SHORES, Ala. – A dominating final mile helped
Marcos Cervantes earn his first All-America award, placing eighth overall in the finals of the 10,000-meters on Day 1 of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium.
Cervantes sat in a large pack throughout the first half of the race before a group of seven runners moved to the lead. The All-Cascade Conference pick worked in a chase group of six runners until the 1,500 meter mark – when he slowly pulled away from the pack, nearly catching the seventh-place runner – clocking a time of 32:09.51, 18 full seconds ahead of ninth-place.
Brooks Ney was also in action in the decathlon, finishing the opening day in 12th-place with 3,223 points – 139 points out of All-America position. Ney took third in the shot put with a personal best throw of 12.16 meters and added a seasonal best leap of 6.31 meters in the long jump.
Tomorrow, Ney will compete in Day 2 of the decathlon, while both Cervantes and
Alex Martin will race in the preliminaries of the 5,000-meters.
