OC’s 800 runners, distance medley team win at Mo. Southern meet

OC’s Nathan Mesta won the 800 meters and was part of the winning distance medley team in the Missouri Southern Indoor Invitational.

JOPLIN, Mo. (Jan. 21, 2012) – Nathan Mesta and Brayden Barrientez keyed a strong performance by OC’s middle-distance runners in the Missouri Southern Indoor Invitational track meet, which concluded Saturday.

Mesta and Barrientez went 1-2 in the 800-meter run and teamed on OC’s winning distance medley team. In the 800, Mesta finished in 1:57.23 – making him a conditional qualifier for the NAIA Indoor Championships in the event – followed by Barrientez in 1:58.55. OC’s David McWilliams finished sixth in 2:01.35.

Barrientez ran the opening leg for the Eagles’ distance medley team, followed by Casey Block, Nick Stoots and Mesta. Their winning time of 10:21.58 was the second-fastest this season in the NAIA and qualified OC for the NAIA Indoor Championships in the event. The Eagles finished more than 16 seconds faster than that of second-place Southwestern (Kan.).

Block, who also finished sixth in the 600 meters (1:19.08) was returning to competitive running after a three-year hiatus and “had a great first meet,” OC assistant coach Mark Thompson said.

OC’s B-team unit of McWilliams, Trevor Martin, Matthew Curran and Brennym Kaelin finished fifth in the distance medley in 11:07.52.

No other OC men’s runners won an event, although Thompson, running unattached, won the 5,000 meters in 14:43.91.

Thompson said the Eagles used the event “as a speed tune up for most of our distance runners. It was nice to get the (distance medley relay) qualified first time out.

“David McWilliams looked sharp,” Thompson said. “His performances suggest that he is really ready to run fast over the next few weeks.”

Renaldo Garrett qualified for the event finals in the 60-meter hurdles and finished fifth in 8.77 seconds.

In the mile run, Stoots was sixth in 4:35.81 while Kaelin was eighth in 4:40.88. Robert Macom (9:24.86) and Drew Harwell (9:30.01) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 3,000 meters.

OC’s women’s distance medley team of Erin Sesemann, Cassandra Hallam, Noemi Hernandez and Melyssa Cardenas also won top honors, winning in 13:18.03, almost 25 seconds ahead of the second-place team from Cowley County (Kan.) Community College.

Three of those distance-medley runners also posted strong individual finishes. Cardenas took third in the 5,000 meters in 19:00.08. Sesemann was fourth in the mile (5:22.56) and Hallam took fourth in the 800 meters (2:29.12).

Hallam’s sister, Jacqueline Hallam, was sixth in the 3,000 meters in 11:20.55, while Alyssa Garrett took sixth in the 600 meters in 1:36.96.

Sprinter Maegan Cowan placed in two events, the 200 meters (sixth in 26.87) and fifth in the 400 meters (1:01.65). The Lady Eagles’ 4x400-meter relay team of Sarah DiBiasi, Andrea Dennis, Cowan and Garrett was fourth in 4:09.36.

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