After three years, St. Benedict’s Distance Medley Relay will return to Nationals; at the Varsity Classic Feb. 8, the track team qualified for the Distance Medley Relay for New Balance Indoor Nationals.

Senior Edwin Rutto, senior Stephen Valvano, UDII Byron Simmons and freshman Ronald Kigen took fourth, running a time of 10:23.

Having recovered from a stress fracture, Edwin ran a 4:25 in the 1600m run. After competing in the State Preps two days earlier, Edwin ran nine seconds faster, splitting a 4:16 in the relay.

In a tough 800m leg, Stephen managed to match his personal best of two minutes flat. With the momentum gained after the qualification, Stephen expect the relay team to leave Nationals with a prize.

“Right now, we hope to get good training leading up to nationals,” he said. “As long as we continue to progress, we will be contenders for All-American honors this season.”

After recovering from his hamstring injury, senior Jared Lampley returned to the track. Jared ran a time of 51.14 to place fifth in the varsity 400m dash.

Although the Distance Medley Relay qualified for Nationals, distance coach David Alfano is pleased but not satisfied.

“We are confident that we can drop time off,” he said. “Dropping time would hopefully get us a bid to run Penn Relays and the first section at Nationals.”