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Moinat leaves mark in track and field

PORTALES — Ivar Moinat shares a name with Ivar the Boneless, a character from the T.V. show ‘Vikings’.

Moinat isn’t as mean as the T.V. guy, but can be ruthless when burning up the collegiate track scene, at least from a competitive standpoint. Moinat — a Netherlands native, Eastern New Mexico junior, and middle distance standout — was named an indoor track All-American in March and took third at last weekend’s Drake Relays, a prestigious outdoor event in Des Moines, Iowa.

Friday night, with Eastern New Mexico hosting the Lone Star Conference Track and Field Championships at Greyhound Stadium, Moinat was at it again, competing hard in the men’s 800-meter run preliminary for a spot in Saturday’s final. At the first turn, Moinat looked to be in the top three or four, then appeared near the lead by the second turn.

Ultimately, Moinat finished second with a time of 1:54.47, behind only Texas A&M-Commerce freshman Timon Kemboi (1:52.26), good enough for both runners to make Saturday’s 800 final.

Being a championship contender is kind of same-old, same-old for Moinat. It was certainly no surprise for Eastern head coach Jeff Kavalunas.

“He’s got a great combination of strength and speed,” Kavalunas said Friday night as the second day of competition at Greyhound Stadium moved past 10 p.m. “He’s been awesome. He has a fantastic attitude, is an extremely hard trainer, very focused.”

Lucky for Kavalunas that Moinat decided coming to America, selecting Eastern New Mexico University and specializing in track instead of soccer, were in his best interests.

First, putting soccer aside and focusing on track is what set Moinat on the path toward becoming an NCAA track star.

“I love soccer. I love it as a fan to watch,” Moinat said. “But I lost my interest in playing. I’m a very competitive guy. I was on a pretty high level and then the level kind of dropped as I got older and I didn’t have as much fun because of my competitiveness. I wanted to get higher up and I knew in track I had more chances to do it. My real heart lies with track.”

Which started pointing him westward.

“It was January ’16, I think, that I decided that I wanted to run in America,” Moinat recalled. “It was pretty late because I had to find a school, of course, before going in August. I wanted to study and run track at the same time. ... It’s pretty hard to combine study with competitive track. ... I just took a leap of faith, going over here and thinking I could really have a fun four years and get better in track, too.”

So, Moinat traveled the unlikely Amsterdam-to-Portales route.

“Sometimes it’s still hard being in a small town,” he said. “But I’ve grown used to it.”

And he has excelled on tracks throughout the country, evidenced throughout his collegiate career and perhaps emphasized by his recent showing in Des Moines.

“That’s a huge meet,” Kavalunas said. “The weather there was terrible. For him to be in the fastest of the Drake Relays was a great achievement.”

Moinat is proud of what he has achieved, in Des Moines, against high-quality NCAA competition, at pretty much everything he’s done since the winter.

“This year,” he said, “I finally met my own expectations for myself by going to nationals and competing at the national level.”

 
 
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