Young Lions Compete at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championship

Johnson City, TN - Freshmen middle distance athletes Josh Bradley and Daniel Goetz competed at the NAIA Indoor National Championships held at the Memorial Center on the ETSU campus.  Azusa Pacific won the team championship with 83 points, followed by Oklahoma Baptist.  Bradley (Ringgold, GA)set a new school record and indoor personal best of 1:55.85 finishing fourth in his prelim.  Elphas Sang of MidAmerica Nazarene University won the prelim and the following day's final with times of 1:53.85 and 1:50.68.  Later in the day, Goetz (Chattanooga, TN) qualified for the finals of the 3k run, running to a second place finish in the prelim with a time of 8:38.50.  Goetz came back to finish 12th in the finals held on Saturday afternoon, when he finished with a time of 8:58.31.  Virginia Intermont's David Cheromei won the 3k title in 8:21.68.

"Josh ran well and is showing great improvements in his racing awareness.  I'm very excited to have a freshmen get into championship type races, allowing them to mature and see what it will take to be at the top.  I was hoping for a little faster opening quarter, but it didn't happen that way and he gave it a good shot.  Josh had a nice indoor season and I'm looking forward to having him run some quick times outdoors.  As for young Goetz, I know that he was disappointed with his performance in the final, but we talk about giving ourselves a chance and he did that by making the final.   He was a little sore and tight from the prelim and never felt comfortable during the race.  He ran like a veteran in the prelim for his first indoor championship, finishing right behind Kiptoo from Lindenwood, who was third in the final.  I believe with some more volume, he'll be able to recover quicker between racing and allow him a better chance at the podium.  I'm proud of these two young athletes and their future here is very bright." Said head coach Rodney Stoker.

The Lions will be back in action when they compete at the Alabama Relays on March 24th.