BOSTON – Senior standout Zach Michon knew he would have to go outside of his comfort zone to earn his first individual school record.
 
And that's just what he did.
 
As part of the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University's Track and Tennis Center on Saturday night, Michon toed the 3000m line alongside 15 other distance runners and went on to cross in 8:05.62, crushing the former school record in the event (Aaron Leskow, 2014, 8:07.07) by 1.45 seconds.
 
The performance earned Michon third in his section and 11th overall in a competitive field of 150. The time currently leads the Atlantic 10 by 5.47 seconds and ranks 12th across all of Division I.
 
"A school record in an individual event is something I've had my eyes on for a long time," said Michon after his race. "This year, coming off a strong cross country season, I had a new level of confidence for this indoor season with the strength I've have gained over the year so far. I've been putting in a lot of great work with my teammates, and this year's energy and enthusiasm on the team will lead to more great things. Boston is a fast track, and I thought this would be the best opportunity to go after the 3k school record. I am especially proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone and deciding to take the lead early in the race, and it paid off in the end. For me, this is still just the beginning of what I plan to accomplish."
 
"Zach and I had talked about being in 8:02-8:07 shape depending on what the race provided," added head coach Mike Glavin. "The problem here was that a rabbit stepped off the track at four laps and left Zach in the lead, which he handled masterfully, running the next 1600m in 4:22. When folks finally engaged with him, he finished his last 800m in 2:06. But all that technical stuff aside, his race was a masterpiece and yielded the fastest 3000m in SJU history... and that's the real story."

Two additional individuals and SJU's top two 4x400m relays also hit IC4A qualification.
 
Senior Justin Moscoe crossed the 400m in an IC4A-qualifying time of 48.89 (PR, first sub-49.00 of career), good for 12th in a field of 126, while junior Matthew Scarpill recorded an IC4A-qualifying 3000m time of 8:25.14 (PR by 10.01 seconds), good for 43rd in a field of 150. Moscoe's time ranks fourth in the Atlantic 10, while Scarpill's ranks fifth.
 
SJU's 4x400m relay 'A' squad of sophomore Michael Welde (49.96), junior Sebastian Eaton (50.04), Moscoe (48.55), and sophomore Michael Szwed (49.96) crossed in an IC4A-qualifying time of 3:18.54 for seventh in the field of 36, while SJU's 4x400m relay 'B' squad of sophomore Kyle Magee (50.42), sophomore Javier Linares (49.74), junior Joshua Richard (49.63), and sophomore Aidan Sauer (49.50) crossed in an IC4A-qualifying time of 3:19.31 for 12th. The 'A' team's performance ranks fourth in the Atlantic 10.

Szwed also ran the open 800m in 1:54.04, just .04 seconds off from the IC4A standard and good for 31st in a field of 175 while Welde (49.28) and Eaton (49.29 PR) followed closely behind Moscoe in the 400m to miss IC4A qualification by .04 and .05 seconds, respectively.

Also of note, junior Bobby Hastie covered the 5000m in a collegiate-best time of 14:46.67 for 23rd in a field of 94, just 1.67 off from IC4A qualification. His performance ranks fifth in the Atlantic 10 and 67th across Division I. 

Additional top individual performances included senior David Bryant's 7.21 for 60m (15th/58), freshman Ladi Bamgbose's collegiate-best 22.40 for 200m (59th/191, just .16 seconds off from IC4A mark), senior Will Davies' collegiate-best 1:05.58 for 500m (18th/61, just .34 seconds off from IC4A mark), sophomore George Steinhoff's 2:30.79 for 1000m (25th/81, just 1.79 seconds off from IC4A mark), and senior Christian Roberts' collegiate-best 4:18.45 for the mile (64th/164).

Saint Joseph's heads back to the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex for the Villanova Invitational next Saturday, February 1. The meet is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.