March 29, 2004
Junior Victoria Mitchell emerged as the fastest 1500-meter runner ever at Butler and senior Gary Blackman recorded the Bulldogs' second-fastest 5,000-meter time in history at the Cardinal Invitational hosted by Stanford University on Friday and Saturday, March 26-27. The two runners were among several Butler runners who ventured to California for the national competition.
Mitchell posted a time of 4:28.08 in the 1500 meter run and placed 13th among collegiate runners competing in the race. She broke the previous Butler record of 4:29.54, set by Kim Lubbehusen in 1997.
Blackman came in 10th in the 5,000 meter race in 13:56.61. His time trails only All-American Fraser Thompson (13:48.55 in 2000) on Butler's all-time 5,000 meter list!
Mitchell and Blackman both earned regional qualification for the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Junior Olly Laws all but sewed up a berth in the 10,000 meter run at the NCAA national meet with a 14th place finish in 29:12.99 at the Cardinal Invitational.
Also turning in regional qualifying performances were juniors Tom Frazer and Nick Goodliffe in the 5,000 meter run. Frazer placed 17th in the race in 14:02.23, while Goodliffe came in 41st in 14:15.53. Two other Butler runners narrowly missed regional qualification. Junior John Frazer posted a time of 3:49.18 in the 1500 meter run, missing the qualifying mark by 0.98. And sophomore Katie Stuckey came up just short in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, despite running a career-best 11:05.10.
"We ran very fast in California," said Butler coach Joe Franklin. "Nearly every runner we took had a top individual performance. It was a very good weekend."