JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's track and field team highlighted the first day with top marks and medals at the ASUN Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday evening.
Aidan O'Gorman shined on day one earning a second overall finish in the men's 10,000m run. The star-studded runner initially placed in third and swiftly shifted gears during the last two laps. O'Gorman snatched a top-two rank to finish slightly under his record breaking 10k time, clocking in at 29:29.59 for silver.
Timothy Doyle maintained an exceptional 10m lead in front of the pack for the men's 1500m run, taking first in his heat. The Orlando, Fla., native finished the race in 3:48.88 and grabbed a second place rank. Macauley Franks and Aiden Arnold continued the momentum with top-four ranks in the 1500m for their heat
FINISH LINE
- O'Gorman snagged a silver medal on day one of ASUN Outdoor Championship.
- The senior finished the 10k in 29:29.59.
- Franks, Arnold and Doyle all qualified for the men's 1500m finals.
- Doyle maintained an exceptional 10m lead in front of the pack, notching a first place finish in his respective heat.
- Ryan Thomas set a lifetime mark of 54.27 in the 400m hurdle trials.
- Thomas earned a fourth place finished and qualified for the finals.
PIGG'S POINTS
"Tristan Merchant (of Liberty) executed a good plan and he earned the win. I think that we all respect his talent, effort and execution. I think Aidan [O'Gorman] did a great job and I'm really proud of him as well. He just came up a little bit short but still, second in a really good field is something to be very proud of. And we had a breakthrough with Seth [Martinez] today, scoring like that in a really talented field. Coming into the race there were eight guys that beat him in under 30 minutes and so to score, we knew it was going to take a really big effort. So, it's really exciting to see Seth be healthy late in the year and step up and get a good scoring position. Those kids run well at the end of the year and it's just nice to see the hard work pay off for them. The prelims looked good in the men's mile. I am particularly happy with that and the guys executed a really smart race plan, and we're good so it sets up for tomorrow. Ryan [Thomas] did a great job today he had a nice PR and he just looked strong and looked really good the hurdles brought it home, really well and we're really proud of how well Ryan did."
-- head coach Jeff Pigg
UP NEXT
The Osprey men and women will head back to the home course to compete in the second day of the ASUN Outdoor Championship with the first event kicking off at 2 p.m.
