Tomas Vega Breaks 5000m Indoor Record 

NMJC distance runner Tomas Vega made history Friday, Feb. 2 with his performance in the 5000m at the Charlie Thomas Invitational in College Station, Texas. 

Vega rewrote the NMJC indoor record books with his time of 13:59.91. The Argentinian bettered his own indoor 5000m school record by 24.50 seconds. The finish is No. 3 in the NJCAA this year and No. 3 all-time for the race. 

German Vega was nipping at the feet of Tomas when he crossed the finish line in 14:01.21 to nationally qualify in the 5000m. German's time is No. 4 in the NJCAA for this season and No. 4 all-time for the event. The top two times in the NJCAA this year for the 5000m do have an asterisk because the event was run on an oversized 300m track.   

The mile relay team of Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu, Aymane El Haddaoui, TK Pahuwa, and Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa improved on their previous national qualifying time with a finish of 3:07.80. The time is No. 1 in the NJCAA and 1.01 seconds faster than what the relay ran Jan. 13. 

The T-Birds distance medley relay squad of Brian Cheruiyot, Chevoney Reid, Cyprien Bille, and Alex Keter ran a national qualifying time of 10:23.08. The finish is No. 8 in the NJCAA for the DMR. 

Aymane El Haddaoui is the final national qualifier for NMJC. The sophomore completed the 200m race on Friday with a time of 21.58. El Haddaoui has already nationally qualified in the 400m earlier this year.

The T-Bird men's track & field team finished the meet with four national qualifying times and one improved qualifying time. 

The Thunderbirds next meet will be Feb 9-10 in Lubbock, Texas at the Jarvis Scott Open inside the Sports Performance Center.