Virginia Intermont College freshman Mudasar Haidat, a graduate of Wakefield High School, surged over the last six miles to take the runner-up spot in the NAIA National Marathon held in Louisville, KY on Saturday.

Haidat finished with an impressive time of 2:27:00 in his marathon debut, just over a minute and a half behind winner Dave Gramlich of Malone College (Oh.) who won with a time of 2:25:34. Third place was Jose Cholula of Concordia (Ca.) (2:27:56), with the final three All-American spots going to Daniel Ellis of Oklahoma Baptist (2:28:22), Justin Gillette of Goshen (In.) (2:29:14) and Bashir Hussein of Warner Southern (Fl.) (2:29:18).

"Mudasar executed his race plan perfectly," said coach Scott Simmons. "His exceptional finish was really dependent upon two things ñ his race effort and his preparation. We decided back in March to start training for the marathon with the understanding that if he was not able to complete every single aspect of his training buildup over three months, then he would not race because, at least to me, he would not be sufficiently prepared and would not be able to recover from the race in a reasonable amount of time."

Haidat started the first mile with a conservative six-minute mile in a chase pack well behind the leaders. He maintained a slightly quicker pace through twenty-miles staying around the eight position, until the early leaders, including NAIA cross country national champion Soimo Kiplagat of Lindenwood, began to slow. Just after 23-miles, Haidat passed Kiplagat, moving into second place and continued to put distance on the rest of the field over the last three miles.

Simmons points out the uniqueness of a freshman racing so well at the longer distance. ìI just wouldnít throw anyone in to the marathon, especially as a freshman,î continued Simmons. ìMudasar is a unique athlete with certain strengths which we realized early in the year. He is exceptionally trainable, very determined, and very light and adapts well to progressive training stresses. He exhibits a lot more maturity than most other 19-year old Americans.î

Haidatís performance contributed eight points to Virginia Intermontís runner-up team finish in the NAIA National Outdoor Track & Field Championships. VICís 83 points finished second to Dickinson State's (Nd.) 99.