RESULTS

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Ithaca College men's track & field team posted eight points towards a national championship on Thursday during the opening day of the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships at Irwin Belk Track. Ithaca is currently in a tie for seventh overall heading to Friday. The Bombers do not have another entry in the championship.
 
Dom Mikula highlighted IC's performance on Thursday with a runner-up championship in the pole vault to mark his third career All-American award. Mikula tied the national champion from Wisconsin-Stout, Noah Zastrow, with a top clearance of 5.10 meters, but finished second overall due to total attempts.
 
Mikula entered the championship and 4.60 meters and proceeded to clear the next three heights – 4.75, 4.85 and 4.90 – on the first attempt. He then surpassed 4.95 meters on the second run and cleared 5.00 meters on the second try. After a miss at 5.05, Mikula passed on the height and wound up clearing 5.10 meters on his second run.

Zastrow began his championship at 5.00 meters, and nearly no-heighted if it weren't for a clearance on the third attempt. He then passed at 5.05 and moved forward on the first go at 5.10 meters to win the title.
 
The second place finish for Mikula marks just the fourth time that a men's student-athlete finished as a national runner-up. King Lewis was the last Bomber to place second, which came in 1988 at the indoor triple jump.
 
Nathaniel Oczkowski also competed on Thursday and finished 16th overall in the 400-meter hurdles. Oczkowski ran in the third heat of the prelim but his time of 54.66 seconds was not good enough to move to the final later this weekend.