MARION, Ind. — Michael Long continued his historic career at Ave Maria by winning his second national championship in as many years Friday afternoon at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. For the second year in a row, Long won gold in 800 meter dash with a time of 1:49.31.
Long's meet started Thursday afternoon in the 800 meter dash preliminary races. He finished second in the first heat with a time of 1:53.49, qualifying him for the final race. It was one of the slower qualifying times of the nine racers who made it to Friday, but the goal for Long on Thursday was to preserve his energy and just make the cut. Despite the slower time, Long still had the fastest second lap of all the runners.
In the championship race on Friday, Long once again dominated in the second lap on his way to his second national championship. The sophomore kept a steady pace in the first lap, hanging in the middle of the pack in fifth place. Long turned on the jets on the sixth turn and overcame the leader on the seventh, moving into first place. In the final straightaway, Long did not let up and beat the next runner by almost a full second.
"[The prelims] didn't play out the way either of us expected, but we didn't want to change anything and were confident that his race strategy would still be good going into the final," said head coach Alan Webb. "And he just ran to perfection. He just put himself right into the first half of the race and then works his way up the second half and just closed it out [in] the last 150. We talked specifically about closing hard the last 150 and not leaving anything to chance until you cross the finish line."
This year's title is the second national championship for Long and the third one for the Ave Maria track program with Caitlyn O'Brien winning the indoor high jump in February.
"Michal commented to me, he said 'Wow the team is doing pretty good. We've won three national titles in the years, that's pretty good.' And I thought to myself, yeah that is pretty good," said Webb. "I do feel the momentum [of the program] is definitely going the right way."
The championship completes a great season for Long, adding to his conference championships in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, his national runner up at the Indoor Championships, and his record breaking run in Arkansas.
With the win, Ave Maria got 10 points despite only having one athlete at the meet, placing them in a six-way tie for 26th place, which includes conference mate Southeastern.
