The men’s indoor track team sent competitors to three different races on Jan. 29. The most notable performance not only in the three different races, but also in the world, was junior Leonard Korir’s first place finish in the 3000-meter run at the 2011 BU Terrier Invitational. Korir’s record run in 7:51.40 is the second fastest time in the world during the 2010-2011 indoor track season.

Korir’s time was also the second fastest in school history as he was only less than two seconds behind Richard Kiplagat’s 7:49.98. Kiplagat was a 10 time All-American and is known as being Iona’s most decorated athlete to attend the school.

Korir’s finishing time also automatically qualifies him for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Texas A&M University. Andrew Bayer of Indiana is the athlete that holds the fastest time this season with a time of 7:48.35.

Korir talked about his race and how he felt and said, “I felt really good, I made sure that I stayed patient and relaxed throughout the race and when it was 800-meters to go, which is the time I made a move. In my mind I was expecting to run a figure like 8:10, but 7:51 was awesome. It made my day and now I have confidence to compete with those stronger guys.”

Head Coach Ricardo Santos added, “I thought Lenny ran a great race and he executed the game plan perfectly.  Running as fast as he did and only being 1.42 seconds off of the school record just goes to show all the hard work that he has put in since he was fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.”

In his indoor debut for Iona, graduate student Mitch Goose was sixth place in the competitive 3000-meter race. Goose crossed the line in 8:10.79, which was good enough for a top 20 time in school history.

Coach Santos also commented on his other top runner by saying, “I thought Mitch ran a solid race, it was a nine second personal best.  We still have some work to do with Mitch, since he raced at the European Cross Country Championships for Great Britain in December so he took his break a little later, but I believe that come the next few weeks, he will be ready for some great results.”

At the Metropolitan Championships at the Armory Track and Field Center, junior Daniel Lipus took first in the 3000-meter run. Lipus ran 8:13.89 and was 13 seconds ahead of teammate Chris Stogsdill. The race was a personal best for Stogsdill and Colin Culhane also ran a personal best in 8:39.96 for a seventh place finish.

Later in the evening, the Gaels raced three runners in the 3000-meter run at the New York Road Runners Saturday Night at the Armory event. Senior Ben Lindsay made a very strong indoor debut and paced the field in 8:02.96 and his winning time is also the sixth fastest in school history. Junior Alexander Soderberg took eighth in 8:18.94 and sophomore Craig Murphy was 13th in 8:33.11.

Coach Santos added, “Ben won with a 30 second personal best time of 8:02, so that was exciting to see Ben get going again.”