Losma qualifies for the men’s mile final in the first day of the MVC Indoor Championships
The Purple Aces ended the first day 10th and 11th in the standings
CHICAGO – Sophomore mid-distance runner Tomasso Losma (Lombardia, Italy) qualified for the men’s mile final for the University of Evansville track and field team on the first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championships.
Losma was the only Purple Aces runner to qualify for a separate final on Sunday afternoon running a 4:11.64 mile for ninth place. But two of UE’s women runners set PRs in their events on Sunday as well. Sophomore sprinter Taylor Johnson (Evansville, Ind. / Reitz HS) and sophomore distance runner Avery Stephens (Newburg, Ind. / Castle HS) had personal records in the 200-meter and the 5,000-meter races.
Sunday was dominated by preliminary sprint and mid-distance races for Evansville. In sprints, Johnson set a PR of 25 seconds in the 200-meters while sophomore Raymond Felton III (Houston / Clear Brook HS) finished just outside of qualifying range in the men’s 200 at 21.84 seconds for 10th place. Johnson, Felton, and freshman Myles Terry (Evansville, Ind. / North HS) also ran in the 400-meter races with Felton having the fastest time at 49.28 seconds for 11th.
Also competing in a shorter preliminary race was hurdler Kate Walke (Batesville, Ind. / Oldenburg Academy) in the 60-meter hurdles. Walke came two-tenths of a second shy of her PR in the event finishing in 9.49 seconds.
In the mid-distance races the Aces had three runners in the men’s 800-meters and one in the women’s race. Senior Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn. / Central HS) was the closest to qualifying for UE in 12th place with a time of 1:55.35. He was closely followed by sophomores Jakub Nowicki (Poznan, Poland) and Owen Cuplin (Hampshire, Ill. / Hampshire HS) at 1:58.10 and 1:58.44 finishes. In the women’s race sophomore Chase Hayes (Noblesville, Ind. / Western HS) finished in 2:24.26.
Along with Losma qualifying for the mile with a time of 4:11.64, sophomore Rafael Rodriguez (Sergovia, Spain) finished the mile in 4:16.67 for 13th place. Evansville also had two runners in the men’s and women’s 5,000-meter races. Sophomore Samuel Lea (Worchester, England) finished the men’s in 15:04.16 while Stephens set a PR in the women’s at 18:27.23.
In the field, the Aces had three participants in the men’s and women’s weight throw. Sophomore Tyler Cherne (Boardman, Ohio / Boardman HS) had the highest finish at 14th with a throw of 14.48 meters. Freshman Beau Baldwin (Mt. Vernon, Ind. / Mt. Vernon HS) also competed on the men’s side with a throw of 12.42 meters. Junior Gwen Darrah (Cleveland, Ohio / Orange HS) was UE’s only women’s thrower, placing 19th with a throw of 13.56 meters.
Evansville ended the first day of the Indoor Championships with the distance medley relays. The men’s team of Losma, Terry, Oulgout, and Rodriguez had the best finish at seventh with a time of 10:16.69. The women’s team of freshman Rebekah Sachs (Milwaukee / Milwaukee School of Languages), Johnson, Hayes, and sophomore Kyndall Anthis (Patoka, Ind. / Princeton Community HS) finished 12th with a time of 13:21.86.
The Aces will close out the MVC Indoor Championships on Monday with seven events. UE will have athletes participating in the men’s mile final, the men’s 3,000 race, the men’s high jump, the men’s triple jump, the women’s shot put, and both the men’s and women’s 4×400 meter relays. The second day of the Indoor Championships is set to begin at 11:15 a.m. on Monday.
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