Butler Men Place Runner-up At Horizon League Indoor Track Championship
Feb. 29, 2004
Butler's men's track squad used a dominant showing in the distance events to claim a runner-up finish in the six-team men's competition at the Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championship held at the DePauw University Track and Field/Tennis Center in Greencastle, Ind., on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 28-29. The Butler women's team placed fifth in the seven-team women's field.
Highlighting the performance of Butler's men was a record-setting run by senior Gary Blackman in the 5,000 meter run. Blackman out-raced four teammates to win the event in 14:23.57, breaking the previous league record of 14:27.04 set by Marc Burns of Loyola in 1990. Butler's Olly Laws (14:42.66) finished second in the race, followed by teammates Brad Bennett (14:47.25), Bart Phariss (14:50.48) and Brian Dunn (14:51.45).
The Bulldogs were even stronger in the 3,000 meter run, claiming the top six spots! Laws won the event in 8:27.48, followed by Nick Goodliffe (8:29.00), Thomas Frazer (8:29.10), Blackman (8:29.36), Bennett (8:29.63) and Phariss (8:30.12). Tom Frazer won the 1,000 meter run in 2:29.67, while his brother, John, claimed the mile run in 4:17.02. Goodliffe was second in the 1,000 (2:34.71) and third in the mile (4:17.41).
Butler's final individual medal in the men's competition came in the distance medley behind the quartet of Mitch Briggs, Andrew Sherman, John Frazer and Nick Goodliffe. That foursome combined for a winning time of 10:14.21.
Junior Victoria Mitchell led Butler's women with a first place finish in the 3,000 meter run in 9:51.78. She also ran on Butler's winning distance medley relay team, along with Karina Larsen, Rholonda Ash and Monika Schneider. The four Butler runners finished the race in 11:40.51. Reeves also had a runner-up finish in the mile (5:04.57).
UW-Milwaukee won the men's competition with 143 points, eight ahead of the Bulldogs. Youngstown State claimed the women's title with 143 total points.
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