OCU track and field recently completed their 2020-21 indoor season.
Seven runners who posted top times this season qualified for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor Track & Field National Championships March 4-6 at Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Fieldhouse in Yankton, S.D.
The men’s team earned their best championship results yet, placing third overall and securing OCU’s first distance medley relay national title since 2016. The team collected eight all-American accolades and scored 44 overall points.
Zouhair Talbi, human performance sophomore, placed first in the 5000-meter run with a time of 13:44.13, breaking the previous NAIA championship record of 13:52.15 set by Silah Misoi from Life University (Ga.) in 1999. Talbi was named outstanding performer of the meet. Sair Salgado, esports management sophomore, placed second with a time of 14:37.08. Shimales Abebe, criminal justice freshman, placed second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:16.24. Milan Todorovic, computer science junior, placed third in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.73.
Todorovic, Abebe, Talbi and Antravius Perkins, criminal justice senior, rounded out the distance medley team and turned in the event’s top time, with 9:56:08.
Elizabeth Heffernan, English freshman, was the only player from the women’s team to compete. She placed sixth in the 1000-meter run, turning in her season-best time of 3:00.19.
Perkins said he is proud of everything his teammates achieved during the competition.
“I feel like everyone was at their best in the championship,” Perkins said. “I believe everyone took something away from it, as well as PR’s, records and overall good performances across the board.”
Perkins said he was particularly impressed by OCU’s ability to hold their own against other schools with larger teams.
“We came third overall with only a small-man squad, and I think that speaks volumes when compared to other teams who have over 40 plus on their team. And, for us, being as small as we were, going to nationals and making the impact we did says so much,” Perkins said.
Perkins said he was happy with how he performed in the relay.
“I think I performed a lot better than I thought I would have,” Perkins said. “I was honestly shocked because I hadn’t run the 400 in a while. Overall, I think I did pretty well, especially with what COVID had done to us.”
Perkins said the team faced several challenges throughout the season. He said COVID-19 regulations meant the runners couldn’t practice as a whole team, and the cold weather limited their time practicing outdoors. He said the 2021 U.S. cold snap resulted in further obstacles for the team.
“Then there was the winter storm, which sent us back even further than that. We were just trying to remain focused, as well as keeping on top of our school grades and assignments and things like that,” Perkins said. “It was hard for us to stay motivated and focused on our practices, and keep eating the right things and keeping the right fluids in our bodies, and just taking care of ourselves.”
Perkins said the team’s determination and focus on the future helped them continually push forward.
“In the beginning of the pandemic, like, in its first initial outbreak prior to our outdoor season in 2020, our outdoor season was canceled. I think what led to us overcoming all those challenges was thinking about it like, ‘let’s not think of 2020 as a setback, but let’s let it be a thing that helps us spring forward into our new indoor season, as well as our next outdoor season.’”
Perkins said the team trained even harder than they normally would to make up for lost time.
“A lot of us trained harder in the preseason, so we were up-to-speed to get us where we needed to go for the national championship,” Perkins said. “I also think part of it was the bond that a lot of us had with one another.”
Perkins said he and Talbi are roommates and trained together in preparation for the season and later for nationals.
“I’ve just got to congratulate Zouhair,” Perkins said. “I want to congratulate him. Zouhair, he is the man. He is. He is ridiculous.”
Talbi said he already believed he could win the 5000-meter event and break the record and was thrilled to learn he had actually succeeded.
“I’m a distance runner. I run the 5k and the 10k, and I already had some fast times before the championship. So, I knew, with the national record, that I could do it,” Talbi said. “During the Christmas break, my teammates and I trained in Colorado, and we put in a lot of hard work. And I then said ‘I know I can win. I know I can break the record,’ so it was a strategy, kind of, before I went to the race.”
Talbi said the team’s dynamic played a significant role in how they performed throughout the season.
“I think the cohesion that we have and that environment we make helps a lot,” Talbi said. “We challenge each other to do well.”
Talbi said team members learned to keep themselves motivated, even during periods of uncertainty.
“We used to have competitions every month or two months, but this year I have had to find that motivation from other sources,” Talbi said. “We had to learn to keep in shape by thinking in the long-term, rather than the short-term.”
Talbi said the team hopes to find even more success in the 2021 outdoor season.
“We’re hoping to stay heathy, and train hard and bring a lot more titles to OCU,” Talbi said.
For more OCU Athletics updates, fans can visit the OCUSports website, and the MediaOCU sports page.
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