SEATTLE, Wash. – Adrian Diaz-Lopez broke Wichita State's six-year-old 3,000-meter school record by 13 seconds among a stacked field Friday at the Husky Classic at the Dempsey Indoor Track.
 
"What a great race," distance coach Kirk Hunter said. "What a fabulous performance. Unbelievable."
 
After a series of plan changes over the last two weeks, Diaz-Lopez showcased his adaptability, trusted his coaches and calmed his nerves to run a 7:54.36 in the biggest meet of his life.
 
"I was really, really nervous, but when I got to the track, the nerves just started to go away," Diaz-Lopez said. "All the top 20 guys in the nation were here, Oklahoma State, NAU…so I was like, 'Okay it's going to be the biggest meet I've ever run in my life,' but then I was doing the warmup and I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna do it."
 
The original plan had been to attempt to break the 3,000-meter school record a week ago at Iowa State, but when the heat sheets came out and the race did not bring the desired competition, Coach Hunter made the decision to send him to Nebraska to race the mile and push the 3K to the next weekend. In the mile at Nebraska, he ended up running a personal best to rank No. 2 in Shocker history.
 
"I had been thinking about that 3K for two months, so I was like, 'Okay, we need to adapt to every situation. Let's go to Nebraska and have fun and do my best,'…and then I ran amazing in the mile, so that gave me a lot of confidence."
 
After arriving in Seattle, Diaz-Lopez was slated to run in the fourth heat of the 3,000 meters at 4:00 p.m. PT, but the Washington coaches allowed him to elevate to the faster sixth heat upon request, pushing his race back to 8:10 p.m. PT.
 
"I don't think many athletes could handle what he went through," Hunter said. "He had to roll with the punches as he went through this, and that takes a very mature, calm individual, and then to still come out and run 7:54, that's unbelievable."
 
When it finally came time to race, Diaz-Lopez ran the fastest race of his life and, still, both he and Coach Hunter felt he did not reach his full potential.
 
"At the beginning I was feeling a little bit heavy in my legs, but then after the 1K and after the mile, I was feeling incredible. Just the last lap, I was little bit tired," Diaz-Lopez said.
 
"It's the first time he's ever been in that territory of running that fast for that long," Hunter said. "He's run 8:01 before, but running 7:54 is just a whole different level, and he was on pace for that 7:50 but got a little tight just trying to work a little too hard in the last 300 meters."
 
Diaz-Lopez's time broke Ugis Jocis's record of 8:07.18 from 2017 and placed 11^th at the Husky Classic.
 
"When I saw the time, I saw the school record, and I almost started crying because it means a lot to me, and it means a lot to Coach Hunter for all the work we did during the cross country season."
 
With two weeks remaining before the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships, Hunter is impressed by Diaz-Lopez's commitment to the team's success.
 
"He's confident, he believes in himself, he's excited for conference and I don't think I've ever met a guy who's as much of a team player as him," Hunter said. "He wants to do whatever it takes to help the team do well, and he's more concerned about the team than he is himself."
 
After transferring from Cowley County Community College, he looks forward to contributing to Wichita State's conference championship effort on Feb. 24 and 25 in Birmingham, Ala.
 
"I couldn't be happier to be at Wichita State," Diaz-Lopez said. "I feel this is just the beginning. I'm ready to do this thing. We're going to handle business and hopefully make history like last year in the conference championship."

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On Saturday, Farrah Miller and Maria Romero finished 1-2 in the 800 meters and etched their names on thee WSU all-time top-10 list, with Miller ranking No. 7 and Romero No. 10 in Shocker history.

Abeba Sullivan placed second in the mile with a personal-best time of 4:58.12, and Clayton Duchatschek moved up to third all-time in Wichita State history in the 3,000 meters with a winning time of 8:09.34.