GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The College of Idaho's Kahea Figueira and Daniel Butler advanced to the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championship finals in the mile run after standout performances in Friday's preliminaries. Both runners will return to the track on Saturday for the mile finals before anchoring their respective distance medley relay (DMR) teams later in the day.
Figueira secured the No. 8 seed in the women's mile final after clocking 5:03.89, narrowly missing her 5:03.16 seed time. She will compete in the championship race at 10:25 a.m. MT before returning for the 1600-meter leg of the women's DMR at 2:40 p.m.
On the men's side, Butler delivered an impressive performance, winning his heat in 4:15.18 to claim the No. 2 seed heading into the final. He will line up for the mile at 10:35 a.m. MT before anchoring the men's DMR at 3 p.m.
Both Yotes DMR teams secured spots in Saturday's finals on Thursday, with the women's squad of Julia Gilbert, Charlotte Bowman, Kylee Quinton, and Figueira earning an automatic qualification by winning their heat in 11:59.61. The men's team, featuring Oclan Ryan, Trevor Treat, Madden Ryan, and Butler, took the 10th and final qualifying position after competing in the fastest heat of the preliminaries.
The College of Idaho athletes will now turn their focus to championship Saturday at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center, where they will compete for national titles in both the mile and DMR events.
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