By Jacob Norling
March 2, 2023
 
(BROOKINGS, S.D.) Westmont Men's and Women's Track and Field returned to Brookings, South Dakota on Thursday night, where they competed in day one of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships.

The men's 4x800 relay team were the only Warriors on the docket for day one, but across the next two days, several Warriors will find themselves under the bright lights of the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.
 
In the preliminaries of the 4x800, Westmont's John Baker, Andres Leon, Adam King, and Jack Vanden Heuvel served as catalysts for the Warriors. Baker's first left of the race ended with the Warriors near the back of the pack, but Leon's leg allowed the Warriors to drift more towards the heart of the group.
 
King pulled Westmont back into the top-half of the pack, and a daring final leg from Vanden Heuvel propelled the Warriors to finish third in the second heat with a time of 7:42.33. From the three heats of the 4x800, the first-two finishers in each heat automatically qualify for finals, which leaves only two more spots for the next-two highest times.
 
After holding their breath for the third heat of the race, the Warriors let out a sigh of relief when they discovered they had earned the eighth and final spot in Friday night's finals. Still, while All-American status looms on the horizon, the men were left with a bittersweet taste in their mouths after day one.
 
"It felt almost like a bare-minimum performance," said King, a senior and former All-American. "We know we can do better. Tomorrow, come finals, we know what we're capable of and we know we can compete better than we did today.
 
"We're honestly lucky to even make it to finals. We had to watch and hope that the last heat was slow, and thankfully we got in. This being my last indoor, I want to get out and compete at the front of the pack, and today I feel like I could have done that better. Tomorrow, we'll be better.
 
"I'm just grateful to be out here after a bit of a bumpy indoor season," added Vanden Heuvel. "It's been rough, but I'm glad we got to compete and I'm grateful to be here with all of the guys. Tomorrow, we just have to go out there and race."
 
On Friday the Warriors have a full slate, beginning with NAIA All-American Madden Hundley competing in the preliminaries of the women's mile at 12:00 p.m. CST. Twenty minutes after Hundley races, nine-time NAIA All-American Zola Sokhela will feature in his first race, the preliminaries of the men's mile.
 
When asked what he was hoping to get out of Indoor Nationals this season, Sokhela said, "Vengeance. Last year it was a stacked field in both the 1K and the mile. There were really talented individuals who really stood out last season.
 
"Now, it'll be nice to come back knowing the mistakes I made, and rectify those. I'm excited. As coach told me earlier, the hay is in the barn, now it's just about execution."
 
Also due up on Friday is Siena Keck, who will compete in the preliminaries of the women's 600 meter dash at 2:25 p.m. CST. At 3:00 p.m. Abby Rumohr will compete in the women's pole vault, where she narrowly missed All-American honors in 2022.
 
Next up on day two at 3:30 p.m. CST will be the men's 1000 meter run preliminaries, which will feature both Sokhela and Vanden Heuvel. Both men earned All-American status in the 1000 at Indoor Nationals last season.
 
Rounding out day two at 5:35 p.m. CST will be the finals of the men's 4x800 relay, where the Warriors will look to continue their recent run of All-American relay teams.
 
Looking forward to Saturday, the Warriors will have several opportunities to compete in the finals of each event, with the only locked-in performance being Lily Sween's competition in the women's high jump.
 
Links to live coverage for each day of Indoor Nationals will be available on the Westmont Athletics website.