Michigan
Penn Relays
Distance Crew Has Career-Best Night at Penn Relays
4/26/2018 11:45:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Philadelphia, Pa. (Franklin Field)
Event: Penn Relays
U-M Team Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Fri-Sat., April 27-28 -- National Relay Championships (Fayetteville, Ark.)
• Complete Results
PHILADELPHIA -- Led by redshirt senior Aaron Baumgarten, distance runners from the University of Michigan men's track and field team had a career-best evening on the team's lone day of competition at the Penn Relays on Thursday (April 26).
Baumgarten came up just short of the win in the 5,000-meter competition but did manage to just dip under his career best in the event at 14:00.22, leading a contingent of five Wolverines in the race who established new personal records in the outdoor 5,000-meter distance.
The time was an improvement of just under a half-second from his previous PR of 14:00.64 set at the 2016 Mt. SAC Relays, but it was not quite enough to overcome professionals Kieran Tuntivate and Louis Serafini in 13:58.77 and 13:59.31, as well as Alex Masai of Hofstra in 14:00.07.
Those four were separated from the rest of the field by more than seven seconds.
Not only did Baumgarten set a new career best in the event, but he likely did enough to secure himself a third consecutive berth to the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds next month as he seeks out his first NCAA Championships berth on the track in what will be his final opportunity.
Baumgarten was not alone in achieving new personal records by a long shot, as he was joined by four teammates who followed his lead.
Billy Bund ran 14:19.24 for 18th in the same top-seeded section as Baumgarten, and 21st overall, edging out his previous lifetime standard by just .03. Running his first collegiate 5,000-meter race outdoors, Jack Aho clocked 14:21.08 for fourth in the second section and 21st overall. He was followed closely by Isaac Harding in 14:21.67 -- just .02 off his career best -- for sixth in that section and 23rd overall.
Jacob Lee clocked a career-best 14:24.82 for 30th overall and Christian Hubaker crossed in 14:30.41 for 38th overall.
The remainder of the team will be in action Friday and Saturday at the National Relay Championships at Arkansas.
U-M CAREER-BEST PERFORMANCES AT THE PENN RELAYS
Jack Aho -- 14:21.08 / 5000m (O)
Aaron Baumgarten -- 14:00.22 / 5000m (O)
Billy Bund -- 14:19.24 / 5000m (O)
Christian Hubaker -- 14:30.41 / 5000m (O)
Jacob Lee -- 14:24.82 / 5000m (O)
FULL MICHIGAN RESULTS BY EVENT
w = wind-aided (greater than 2.0 meter-per-second [m/s] wind; marks with wind up to 4.0m/s are allowable for NCAA Preliminaries qualifying purposes)
5,000 Meters
4. Aaron Baumgarten / 14:00.22
21. Billy Bund / 14:19.24
23. Jack Aho / 14:21.08
25. Isaac Harding / 14:21.67
30. Jacob Lee / 14:24.82
38. Christian Hubaker / 14:30.41
10,000 Meters
23. Jacob Branch / 31:42.72
Players Mentioned
