By: Jeff Evans, Director of Athletic Communications
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Western Washington University men's distance medley relay team placed 7th at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships to earn First Team All-America honors.
The Viking men's DMR foursome of
Drew Weber (1200m),
Brian Le (400m),
Jonah Bloom (800m) and
Will Henry (1600m) clocked 9:51.19 to place 7th after entering the meet ranked No. 12 in the nation, grabbing the last available spot for nationals. The same foursome – in a slightly different order – set the program record and No. 7 mark in GNAC history in 9:45.48 at the UW Invite in late January. Friday's mark enters the WWU record book as the No. 3 time in program history.
WWU was in third position after the third leg of the race and held on for one of the eight podium spots with a strong finish by Henry.
The finish was the 2nd-highest by a WWU indoor relay team at nationals, trailing just the runner-up placing by Sam Brancheau, Adam Neff, Erik Bies and Anthony Tomsich in 2007.
Just over an hour prior to the start of the DMR, Weber ran in the first heat of the 800m, placing 10th to narrowly miss a spot in Saturday's finals. Weber clocked a time of 1:53.06 to earn Second Team All-America honors. During the 2023 indoor season Weber ran a WWU record time of 1:49.86.
The men's DMR finished earned WWU two team points.
With the indoor season now complete, the Vikings now turn their attention to a full slate of outdoor meets with the team back in action this weekend at the PLU Open in Tacoma. WWU will host the 41st annual Ralph Vernacchia Invitational April 29 at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.
