ALBUQUERQUE, N.M./BOSTON, Mass./Brookings, S.D. – The North Dakota track and field program concluded competition at three meets on Saturday. The day was highlighted by two school records going down in Boston.

Late Saturday evening in Boston, Luke Labatte broke the school record in the 3,000 meters with a personal-best time of 8:08.54, beating his pervious best by over 20 seconds. He broke the record of Josh LaBlanc, who ran a time of 8:19.69 at Iowa State in 2011.

Labatte now owns indoor school records in the 3,000 meters (8:08.54), mile (4:06.11) and 5,000 meters (14:25.12). He is also a record holder as a member of the distance medley relay team with a time of 10:03.97 at the 2021 Summit League Indoor Championships.

Earlier in the day, Jesse Middendorf broke his own program record in the 800 meters with a PR time of 1:50.14. Middendorf is three-for-three for breaking records when he steps on the track in a Fighting Hawk uniform, originally breaking the 800-meter record at South Dakota State earlier this season and then setting the 600-meter school record of 1:18.72 at the UND Open.

Roughly an hour after Labatte's record, Justin Jelaca took the track and put down the third-fastest 3,000-meter time in UND history with a personal best of 8:19.90.

In the final hour of Friday, Nelson Ruto ran in the 5,000 meters and improved his No. 2 time in school history with a personal-best time of 14:30.04. Ruto was less than five seconds away from breaking Labatte's record.

Two Hawks also moved up the UND top-10 list in the mile in Boston. Jake Hall clocked a PR time of 4:11.67 to move up to No. 4 in school history, while Alec Nelson ran a personal-best time of 4:12.29 to move up to No. 7 all-time at UND.

In New Mexico, Tiffanie Magnusson entered the UND top-10 list in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking a PR time of 9.03 during qualifying to move up to No. 7. Magnusson finished the weekend with two new marks in school history, also tying the school record in the long jump (19-3 1/4, 5.87m) on Friday night.

At South Dakota State, Ian Busche had the top performance of the day, running a personal-best time of 4:20.81 in the mile, missing the UND top-10 list by less than 2.5 seconds.

North Dakota will host the UND Tune-Up on Saturday (Feb. 18), before visiting Vermillion, S.D., for the Summit League Indoor Championships (Feb. 24-25).

Post-Meet Notes
* Luke Labatte (3,000 meters) and Jesse Middendorf (1:50.14) both broke school records in Boston on Saturday.
* Tiffanie Magnusson tied the long jump school record (19-3 1/4, 5.87m) at New Mexico on Friday.
* The Fighting Hawks have posted seven new school records this indoor season.
* 10 improvements were posted to the UND top-10 list this weekend, with three being school records.