Burns Opens Men’s Outdoor Season with Win in 5,000 Meters

MARION, Ind. – The Taylor men's track and field team sent 11 athletes to open its outdoor season for day one of Indiana Wesleyan's Polar Bear Invitational on Friday. Freshman Nathan Burns started his season with a bang as he grabbed first place in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:44.62, good enough to achieve B standard and qualify for the NAIA National Championships.

Burns headlined the Trojans' strong showing in the 5,000 meters with his first-place finish that cleared the next best competitor by over 10 seconds.

Three other TU competitors, sophomores Joel Mumaw, Ryan Hanak and Luke Harber, all placed in the top 10 themselves in the 5,000-meters event that featured 90 runners. The sophomore trio each recorded personal bests in the event, with Mumaw crossing the finish line in sub-15 minutes with a time of 14:59.56 to place fourth.

Alex Ortiz (20th place) and Zach McKowen (45th) also finished inside the top half of all competitors in the event.

Max Lambert was the Trojans' lone competitor in the hammer throw, and he placed 23rd out of a 42-man field with a distance of 35.68 meters.

Lambert also led TU in the discus with a throw of 33.21 meters, good for 19th in the field. Seth Gormley and Gabe Osborn also competed in the event, placing 31st and 40th, respectively.

Due to the forcast cold temperatures on Saturday, the Taylor men only had one day-two competitor at the Polar Bear Invitational. 

Junior Bennett Hill ran in the 400 meters, finishing in sixth place out of 28 true competitors with a time of 54.40 seconds. 

TU next competes at its home meet, the George Glass Invitational, on April 6.