The Friends University track and field top distance runners went and competed at the KU Relays in Lawrence on Thursday, April 19th in the Distance Carnival. A cool and windy night did not deter the Falcon runners from running many personal bests and national standards.

Junior Jordan Arnold continued her torrid season of shattering her own records. She ran 17:08 in the women's 5k to finish 2nd overall. She defeated the 2011 cross country national champion, Obsie Birru, by 15 seconds. This was a 14 second improvement on her previous best earlier this outdoor season. Her best time previously to this year was 17:47. She is currently only 4 seconds from the best time in all of NAIA.

Junior Cecilia Burley won the women's 10k in a new school record time of 36:54. This was three minutes better than her previous 10k personal best and broke teammate Karissa Cominator's old school record by 28 seconds. Cominator ran a great race herself, placing 3rd in a time of 37:24. Burley's time is currently ranked 7th nationally and Cominator's time is 12th nationally. Both of these times were "A" national standards. They are easily the fastest two girls in the KCAC by over two minutes.

Senior Javier Ceja placed 6th in the men's 10k in a time of 31:10. This was a "B" national standard and is the best time in the KCAC this year by 35 seconds.

Junior Michael Gurley placed 24th out of 71 in the men's 1500 in a new personal best time of 4:02.2. This is the 2nd fastest time in the KCAC this year.

Junior Alstin Benton placed 9th in the men's steeplechase in a personal best time of 10:11.87. He is currently ranked 5th in the KCAC.

Sophomore Brock Nooney placed 23rd in the men's 5k in a time of 15:35.82. This is his second best time of his career. Freshman Peyton Wade placed 25th in the men's 5k in a new personal best time of 15:44.43. This was a ten second improvement on his previous best time.

Coach Brad Peterson's comments: "This turned out to be a great meet for us even though the wind was pretty bad and I wasn't sure going into the meet whether we could hit personal best times because of the conditions. Jordan ran an amazing race and showed she will be battling for a national title in the 5k in May. Cecilia and Karissa both ran great races in the 10k. 25 laps are a long way on such a windy night. This was Cecilia's first 10k in a couple years and she showed she is a natural. Karissa ran tough the whole way and truly competed. Our guys were able to get some personal bests out of the meet as well and Javier really ran tough the second half of his 10k in some rough wind. All four of these runners have a shot to be in the mix at nationals to be top 4 at least in their respective events. That's pretty exciting."