January 29, 2012

(Indianapolis, IN) The Indiana Invaders mustered a collection of encouraging and motivating performances including a win at 800 meters over the weekend at Indiana University's Indiana Relays.  The weekend's competition had Invaders athletes featured in the Invitational 600 and 800 meter races. 

Friday evening the Invaders Juan Carrillo successfully returned to competition after a short injury break in training and racing with a 2nd place finish (1:20.48) in the Invitational 600 meter race(video link).  Ricardo Bell struggled in his outing finishing 7th.

Saturday, the Invitational 800 meter race(video link), delivered an exciting tactical race with a mere 61 hundredths of a second separating the top four finishers in the featured section.

Drake Sterling recovered from poor track positon and grabbed the photo-finish win (1:50.52) at the finishline with a gutsy inside move over the final 80 meters. James "Jimmy" O'Brien (1:50.54) was unable to hold off Sterling after having taken charge of the race at the 600 meter mark. The thrilling race finish with three different leaders over the final 210 meters was set up by Jason Springer's aggressive early pace over the initial 400 meters with the opening 200 delivered in 25.4 seconds. Springer finished 4th in 1:51.13.

The Indiana Invaders will return to competition in two weeks early at the Grand Valley State University's Big Meet.

 Coach Greg Harger said, "The Invite 800 had solid, encouraging coaching clues that all three guys are in position to take the competitive step in this short indoor season.  It was also encouraging to see Carrillo return healthy to the track with a solid indication he will be a factor with his next outing". Harger added, "We have a good 10 day block of additional solid training available to us now before we return to competition at GVSU's Big Meet.  We are very hopeful that Ricky Bell and Nate Browning will be able to return to competition with us as Bell is looking to rebound from a bout of over-training and Browning is addressing an irritated achilles tendon".

The Indiana Invaders, a not-for-profit organization competing at USA National Championships since 1999, provide a resident-based, athlete-centered support system based in Indianapolis, Indiana.