GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Ave Maria Track and Field team had a good weekend at the RADD Sports College Invite with a couple of top three finishes and a few NAIA qualifying times.

Michael Long had a strong weekend placing third in the mile race with a time of 4:08.28 and winning the 800 meter race with a time of 1:51.35. Long's mile time was a personal best for him and put him second overall in the NAIA national rankings. He already had the best time in the NAIA in the 800 meter race, but the win over the weekend just continued to show his dominance in the event.

In the Women's Pentathlon, Caitlyn O'Brien placed second overall with a score of 3238. She won two of the five events, winning the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.90 seconds and the long jump with a mark of 5.59 meters, and placed third in the Shot Put with a mark of 9.78. Her score of 3238 is good enough for ninth in the NAIA.

Maria Talafuse had the last NAIA qualifying time of the weekend, clocking in at 17:36 in the 3k race walk which meets the NAIA B standard and puts her 13^th in the NAIA currently.

Other races of note were Sam Paga breaking nine minutes for the first in the 3k race at 8:57, Sebastain Shae and Bryan Niera both breaking 16 minutes in the 5k race at 15:49 and 15:56 respectively, Sofia Torres breaking 11 minutes in the 3k at 10:47 and posting a 3:09 in the 1k, Alexis Mendlik hitting 1:00.04 in the 400 meter race and Clare Owen posting a season-best 2:25 in the 800 meter race.

Following the meet, head coach Alan Webb said most everyone ran solid races and are set up well for the conference meet.

The highlight of the meet outside of Ave Maria was Olympic Champion Noah Lyles was also at the meet and ran a 6.62 in the 60 meter dash.

The Gyrenes' next meet is Friday, February 7, back in Gainesville for the Celebration Pointe Invite. That is their last meet before the Sun Conference Indoor Championships February 14-15.