GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Tech showed strong sprint development across the meet, highlighted by major gains in the short distances. The Panthers saw widespread improvement in both the 60-meter and 200-meter races, with seven different Panthers posting new personal bests and five in both events, showing continued progress in Tech's speed depth and overall consistency.
Tyler Herrera opened the meet for the Panthers in the 5,000-meter run, placing 11th with a time of 15:38.30. Florida Tech's top finish of the day came in the 400 meters, where Malachi Johnson clocked a 49.28 to take eighth place. The next-highest Panther finish followed in the mile, as Ben Peck crossed the line ninth with a time of 4:16.16.
Six Panthers competed in the 60-meter dash, with five turning in new personal bests. Ese Oguma led the group, running a 7.08 to place 20th, while Gavin MacCoy followed with a career-best 7.16 for 30th. Austin Clate and Morgan Lee each shaved a tenth of a second off their previous bests, finishing in 7.23 and 8.11, respectively. Shawn Immanuel posted the biggest improvement of the group, lowering his personal best by .13 seconds with a 7.41.
Later in the evening, Thomas Carpenter delivered a strong showing in the 3,000 meters, cutting nearly six seconds off his previous best to finish 18th in 8:47.65. Rhett Turner and Ethan Mudur also competed in the event for the first time, both earning top-40 finishes.
The same six sprinters returned for the 200 meters, joined by Mikey Roberts and Diego Estebanes, with nearly the entire group recording improvements. Oguma placed 20th with a time of 22.42, while Roberts finished 27th in 22.66. MacCoy narrowly missed the top 30 at 22.73. Estebanes and Immanuel made significant strides, dropping their personal bests by .20 seconds and an impressive .66 seconds, respectively. Alex Moynihan, who did not record a PR in the 60 meters, bounced back in the 200 with a new best of 24.43, and Lee capped the night with another improvement, running 26.42.
UP NEXT:
Florida Tech men's track move into outdoor season with a meet at Tampa for the UTampa Invite. The meet is held on Saturday, February 21 at Pepin Stadium.
