As soon as Jake Mihelich got to Hayward Field on Friday, his mind was set on one thing: “Division III or Division I, it doesn’t matter.”
Mihelich runs for Division III Linfield College, and he competed right next to Division I and professional track athletes in the men’s 200 and 400 meters at the Oregon Twilight Meet. He was excited. Meets like these, where he races against much stronger competition, have resulted in his best times this season.
And as Mihelich reached around the stagger during the men’s 200 meters, it became even clearer to him that which division he competed in did not matter.
“Once I got into the stagger, I just started passing people,” Mihelich said. “My favorite part about that 200 is coming around that slingshot, and I saw that I was in fourth place and these guys are right there, and I was like, ‘I got these guys.’”
Mihelich finished second in 21.66 seconds, edging Oregon’s Jordan Latt by .03 and Jake Galpin by .14. He was only .23 behind winner Daveon Collins of Seattle Speed. It wasn’t a fast time by Mihelich’s standards, but “it felt fast and felt good.”
It’s impressive for someone who two years ago considered himself a “distance guy.” In his senior year of high school, Mihelich volunteered to run the 400 meters at a meet and has since developed into one of the elite sprinters at the Division III level. He ranks second in the 400 and 15th in the 200 this year.
His progression has been simple. He keeps running “pretty well.” He passed on running cross country in the fall this past year and now has the goal to win a national championship in June.
He’s also gauging himself against the nation’s top athletes at events like the Oregon Twilight, which to him, is “awesome.”
