Senior Lois Ricardi set the ISU school record in the 3000-meter run

Seattle, WA--Four Bengals headed to Seattle, Washington to compete in the Last Chance Meet on Saturday afternoon. The meet was held at the Dempsey Indoor Track Facility at the University of Washington. Last Chance Meets serve as an athlete's last chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championship. Though the Bengals did not meet the provisional qualifying times and height, Senior Lois Ricardi set the school's record in the 3000-meter run.

Women's distance runner Lois Ricardi saved all her energy for the 3000-meter run. She ran a performance best time of 10:04.55 for the season at the Mountain State Games in February. She improved on her season best performance with her 9:43.96 run which gave her second place among the runners and set ISU's 3000 meter run All Time Top Ten Performance and Performers record. The previous record was held by Jordan Vaughan who set it with a time of 9:54.54 in 2000. The 3000-meter run provisional qualifying standard is 9:34.00 and the automatic time is 9:15.00 on the oversized track.

Distance runners Senior Saheed Khan and Junior John Ricardi competed in the mile run and the 800-meter run. The mile provisional qualifying time is 4:04.00 while the automatic time is 3:59.50 on the oversized track. In the 800-meter run the provisional time is 1:50.50 while the automatic time is 1:48.20 on the oversized track.

Khan's previous performance best for the season in the 800-meter run occurred at the Snake River Open in January where he ran a time of 1:54.18. He ran a time of 1:53.58 at the last chance meet shaving off 0.20 seconds off his time to place 9th among the runners. Khan ran a 4:06.69 performance best mile at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championship leading into the Last Chance Meet, but ran a 4:07.09 which gave him 11th place but was not enough to qualify him for the NCAA Championship.

Ricardi, a junior, ran a time ran a performance best time for the season with a time of 4:09.70 in the mile at the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championship, but fell short of the provisional time when he took 19th place among the runners with his time of 4:11.15 at the meet. He also ran a time of 1:54.77 to hold 11th but not a fast enough time to qualify for the NCAA Championship. Ricardi will have to wait and return for the next indoor season to attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championship.

The only field athlete to attend the Last Chance Meet was pole-vaulter Levi Keller. Keller had a performance best vault for the season with a height of 16-06.25 at the BYU Cougar Indoor Meet in January. Keller who still battled with a nagging injury, finished with height of 16-00.75 to tie for ninth place. Keller fell short of the provisional height of 17-00.75 and the automatic of 18.00.50 for the NCAA qualifying standards.

Three of the four Bengals were seniors therefore only one, junior John Ricardi, will be able to return next year for a chance to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championship. The Bengals will return home to Pocatello to begin training for the outdoor season.

ENDS