GRINNELL, Iowa – Setting a facility record and recording a career best for indoors, Jake Mihelich became a two-time national champion in the 400 meters with a winning time at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon inside Grinnell College's Charles Benson Bear '39 Recreation and Athletic Center.
 
Mihelich, who was the outdoor national champion in 2015, earned his third overall all-America citation, and first of indoor competition, by clocking the fastest time of the two-heat final, 47.39 seconds. He defeated the runner-up by 0.58 seconds and made history of the previous facility record, set in 2012, by 0.22 seconds.  
 
Running on the outside in Lane 6, Mihelich deftly worked his way inside and trailed defending indoor champion Ross Denman (Wisconsin-La Crosse) at the end of the first lap. He made his move on the back stretch of Lap 2, taking the lead and holding off Daniel Pietsch (Emory) to win the first heat handily.
 
All Mihelich could do was wait, then, and hope no one in the second heat ran a faster time. It turns out the Linfield junior did more than enough, as Monmouth's Ethan Reschke won Heat 2 in 48.63 seconds, more than a full second slower than Mihelich.
 
James Wilson (Monmouth-Ill.) who ran the fastest preliminary time (48.37) Friday afternoon, finished fifth overall. Pietsch was the national runner-up at 47.97 seconds.
 
Mihelich, who entered the meet ranked fourth and posted the fourth best qualifying time on Friday, became Linfield's first male indoor national champion of the NCAA era and just the second for either program, joining Catherine Street (pole vault, 2012). In all, Wildcats have claimed seven national indoor crowns, dating back to Curt Heywood's NAIA pole vault title in 1993. Counting a championship in the 400 and fifth-place finish in the 200 at last year's outdoor national meet, Mihelich now owns three all-America awards.

Photo courtesy of Wade Gardner, d3photography.com.