LOS ANGELES — Saint Mary's sent 11 runners to take part in a pair of races at the 2025 Oxy Invite, hosted by Occidental College. Nearly half of those runners PRd in what was a solid late season effort by this year's Gaels squad. 

Things got started early for the Gaels with a pair of runners in the sixth heat of the 800m race. Freshman Zach Zlobinsky and sophomore Gus Hollister both represented the Gaels in the race. Zlobinsky got off the blocks hot, leading the race through the first of two laps around the track, but it was Hollister with a blazing finish, taking second in the heat with a new PR of 1:58.96. This was Hollister's first sub two minute 800. 

The remaining nine runners for the Gaels took part in the 1500m race, with their top four finishers all recording new personal best marks. Jason Habash led the charge, as he so often has done this year, representing the Gaels in the third heat. From the starters gun, Habash ran the fastest 300m split (42.33) of any runner in the race, and the second fastest 700m split (1:43.29). He continued to lead his heat by a 0.25 second margin heading into the final lap, and ultimately finished second in the heat with a PR of 3:50.68. This time goes down as the fifth fastest in program history. Daniel Martinez placed fifth in the same heat, running his personal best mark of 3:52.95, a near four second PR for the freshman. Julius Largaespada finished less than a second slower than Martinez at 3:53.37, running a strong final 400m (1:00.45) to jump from ninth to fourth in his heat. Both Martinez and Largaespada moved into the top-10 in program history with those times. Rounding out the group of PR finishers in the 1500m, freshman Ethan Gray placed second in the fifth heat with a time of 3:55.66. Like Martinez, Gray's PR was also a nearly four second jump from his previous best. 

The Gaels will be back in SoCal next weekend to take part in the Franson Last Chance meet, hosted by Azusa Pacific.

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