Stamping their name in the record books and placing themself among Eastern’s best in history is something every athlete dreams of, but few achieve.

Senior distance runner Jason Bialka made his stamp on history in a big way Saturday, shattering the 25-year old record in the 3,000-meter run by nearly three seconds.

“People don’t realize just how good of a record that is,” distance coach John McInerney said. “It’s a pretty good record and he got right after it.”

“I wanted a school record as much as qualifying,” said Bialka, a high school All-State product from Lockport. “We’ve had such good runners like Mike Larson, Joe Sheeran and coach McInerney, and I always wanted to think of myself as a part of that company.”

It was Larson’s 8:11.2 mark that Bialka broke to set the school record, crossing the finish line in 8:08.36 at the Cannon IV Invitational at Butler University.

“The first half of the race went really smooth and that was different than last weekend at Indiana, which was rough,” Bialka said. “I knew it would be close and with three laps to go I knew I’d have to close fast to get the record.

“They had a clock set up and I constantly had my eye on that clock,” he said. “I kind of smiled at myself when I knew I had the provisional time, but I had to bust that last 400 for the record.”

Not only did the run shatter Eastern’s long-standing best time, but Bialka’s performance surpassed the provisional qualifying time (8:12) for the NCAA Indoor Championships and gave Bialka his first school record of his high school or collegiate career.

While Bialka achieved the provisional time, he still rests on the bubble of qualifying for nationals. The automatic qualifying time for the NCAA’s is 8:00 and has been reached by just two athletes so far. Despite his record-breaking performance, Bialka currently ranks 24th in the nation for the 3,000, and only the top 16-20 runners will advance to compete in the nation’s fastest race.

While there is a chance Bialka’s current time would advance him to nationals if other runners qualify in other events and drop out, he’s not counting on that chance.

“I know right now it’s not going to be enough,” Bialka said of his current 3,000 time. “I need to be 4-8 seconds faster to definitely make it (to nationals).”

“I don’t think in Jason’s case it’s that hard,” McInerney said breaking the 8-minute mark. “He just needs to find a race where a whole bunch of guys are doing it. I’m convinced he can run eight or faster, but it’s hard to do alone.

With Eastern hosting this week’s Friday Night Special and the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships at Lantz Fieldhouse next weekend, Bialka has the opporunity to break the 8-minute plateau – if he chooses to.

Bialka will take a break from the 3,000-meter race this Friday to compete in the mile, and depending on his performance in that race, he may change his focus to qualifying for nationals in that event.

“The mile is the weaker of the two events in terms of qualifiers right now,” head coach Tom Akers said. “We’ll go after the mile Friday and probably another 3K and see where his best chances lie. We have to be ready for what the opportunity is in.” “I don’t even know if I’m going to run the 3,000 again,” Bialka said. “It depends on what I have a better shot at making.

“There’s more glory in the mile, and I’m running the mile Friday and then coach and I will sit down and talk about it,” Bialka said. “It depends on how fast I run the mile at home and we’ll see what I have a better chance at qualifying in by the the last chance meet.”

Last chance meets take place a week before the NCAA’s to allow runners a final opportunity to run their fastest and produce their best times.

“You hate to do it the week before nationals, but a lot of people will be in that situation,” McInerney said of qualifying.

For Bialka to provisionaly qualify in the mile, he’ll have to run a time of 4:06. But the senior standout has his sights set on an even faster time – the school record of 4:03.

“If I hit the record for the mile, it would place me in the top ten in the country,” Bialka said.

Bialka credits his teammates, John Sipple in particular, for pushing him to the fastest times of his life.

“It’s nice to have the guys there to support me, especially John Sipple,” he said. “He’s there to push me in practice even when it takes a toll on him.”

“The support from teammates and the coaching staff is always there,” Akers said. “A lot of runners don’t realize the impact of a team until they are out of college and running on their own.”

“Jason is very self-motivated and driven from within and will be successful for many years to come.”

While Bialka still has next year’s cross country season ahead of him, this is his final opportunity to make history on the indoor track.

“It’s kind of sad, but I don’t think it’s hit me yet,” Bialka said of this being his final indoor season. “Indoor track is definitely my favorite of the three, and I want to go out being remembered.”