TOPEKA, Kan. – Oklahoma City University scooped up four victories as the Stars got the men's track & field season under way at the Washburn Alumni Invitational on Saturday at the Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility.  

Five Stars met the A standard for the NAIA indoor track & field championships. Shimales Abebe paced four OCU milers who posted qualifying marks for the national meet March 2-4 in Brookings, S.D. Abebe (mile), Abraham Chelangam (5,000 meters), Jordan Iwuchukwu (shot put) and Tate Smithhart (800 meters) grabbed wins in their respective events.

Abebe, Chelangam, Milan Todorovic, Brendan Robeaux and Fares Maarouf took the first five spots in the one-mile race. Abebe, a junior criminal justice major from Los Angeles, won the race with a time of 4 minutes, 11.35 seconds. Chelangam finished second with a time of 4:11.73, and Todorovic finished just off their pace clocking in at 4:12.47. Robeaux timed in at 4:14.37, while Maarouf tallied a time of 4:28.54. On top of their impressive top-five finish, all members qualified for the NAIA national meet, easily beating out the qualifying time of 4:15.00.  

Chelangam, a freshman computer science major from Kampala, Uganda, finished way ahead of the pace in the 5,000-meter race, clocking in at 13:58.59. With his finish, he now holds the facility record in the 5K. His time was two minutes ahead of the next finisher, OCU's Joseph Engel and David Boulanger. Engel clocked in at 15:59.01. Boulanger finished his first collegiate race in third in a time of 15:19.05.  

OCU snared the top two spots in the 800-meter run with Tate Smithhart and Aiden Hoover finishing first and second. Smithhart, a sophomore political science major from Vilona, Ark., crossed in a time of 1:58.97. Hoover turned in a time of 2:01.84.

Jordan Iwuchukwu, a junior computer science major from Edmond, Okla., won the men's shot put with a throw of 46 feet, ½ inch (14.03 meters). That throw was Iwuchukwu's best for his collegiate career.

In the men's 400-meter dash, OCU's Alexander Daly came in fourth with a time of 51.51.  

The Stars' next meet is set for Jan. 7 at the Friends First Chance Qualifier in Wichita, Kan.