CEDAR RAPIDS - Southwestern sophomore Jacob Driskill saw all of his hard work over the past year pay off in a big way Saturday at the Seminole Valley Stampede.
Driskill ran a massive 8K PR of 91 seconds, crossing the finish line in 27:39.4 for 118th place. Driskill's time was good enough to qualify him for the NJCAA Championships by beating Southwestern's institutional standard of 28:00 for 8K. His previous best 8K time was 29:10.8 at last year's Region 11 Championships.
Driskill negative split his race, coming through 5K in 17:23 (5:36 mile pace) and closing his final 3K in 10:16 (5:30 pace).
"Jacob is such a hard worker," said Scott Vicker, Southwestern director of cross country/track & field. "He has really dedicated himself to putting in the mileage necessary to make big improvements. I knew it was just a matter of time for him to have his big breakthrough, and I couldn't be happier for him to have that moment Saturday. I thought he ran a great race tactically. Jacob got out well, then settled in, and was able to turn on the burners in the second half of the race and move up through the field, which is exactly what we wanted."
Driskill is the second Spartan harrier to qualify for nationals as an individual this year, as sophomore Brandon Briley qualified at the Greeno-Dirksen Invitational on Sept. 20. Briley ran 27:35.2 at the Greeno-Dirksen and followed that performance with a 27:17.6 8K time at Saturday's Seminole Valley Stampede.
"I know Saturday's result isn't what Brandon was hoping for. I thought he started well and just struggled in the second half of the race," Vicker said. "I have confidence in Brandon that he'll bounce back over the next couple of weeks as we get into championship racing."
As a team, Southwestern finished 17th out of 23 scoring teams Saturday with 552 points. The Spartans narrowly edged Bethel (Ind.) by one point and Coe College by three points. Southwestern finished just five points back of Monmouth (Ill.) for 16th place.
Freshman Owen Martin improved his time by 1 minute, 55 seconds from his first 8K, running 29:06.4. Ramzi Ben Haj Belgacem improved by 2:07 over his first 8K, finishing in 31:08.2. Erik Lash rounded out the lineup for the Spartans with a 3-second PR of 32:03.7.
Southwestern returns to action Friday at the Indian Hills Invitational at Cedar Creek Golf Course in Ottumwa. The Spartans race at 4:45 p.m.
