JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Union College men’s 1,600-meter relay team ran to a school record and a third-place finish in their preliminary race Thursday at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor Track & Field National Championship.

The championship is inside East Tennessee State University's Memorial Center in Johnson City.

The relay team posted a time of three minutes and 22.84 seconds which was 1.65 seconds lower than the previous record set in February. The effort gave the Bulldogs a 15th-place finish overall and was .15 seconds from 14th. Union entered the event with the 19th fastest qualifying time.

Johnnie Nabors (Lawrenceville, Ga.) led things off for the Bulldogs and handed off to Erick Coleman (Chicago, Ill.) Scotty Barnes (Ewing, Va.) ran the third leg and Andre Thornton (Loganville, Ga.) was the anchor of the team.

This marks the first time a Union relay team has raced at indoor nationals.

Doane (Neb.) College was the fastest team of the 19 teams that finished with a time of 3:14.44. Five other teams qualified for Saturday’s final, Dickinson State (N.D.) University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Azusa Pacific (Calif.) University, Langston (Okla.) University and Southern University at New Orleans (La.) Southern grabbed the last spot by half a second over Siena Heights (Mich.) University.

The Bulldogs continue action Friday with the 60 meter dash featuring Nabors, a 2007 NAIA All-American in the event. The prelim race is at 1:50 p.m. and the semifinals are scheduled for 4 p.m. Thornton will race in the 400 and 200 races at 3:05 p.m. and 6:20 p.m. respectively. The finals for all three events are Saturday.

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