South Surrey's Luc Bruchet started 2014 the same way he closed out the old year - with an impressive win.
The Elgin Park grad was in Seattle Saturday with his UBC Thunderbirds track teammates where he set a new school and meet record at the University of Washington Indoor Preview. It was Bruchet's first competitive race since winning the Canadian men's cross-country championship in late November.
In Seattle Saturday, Bruchet won the men's 3,000 metres in a blistering time of seven minutes, 54.57 seconds, breaking not only the 18-year-old UBC record, but also the meet record (formerly 7:54.88 by Irish Olympian Alistair Cragg). Bruchet edged out Minnesota's first four-minute miler and Nike athlete Ben Blankenship in the process.
Bruchet's clocking was almost five seconds faster than the old UBC record, which was set in 1996 by former Canadian Olympian Jeff Schiebler.
Bruchet's time puts him second in the world as of Jan. 18 per the IAAF website. Bruchet currently sits only four seconds back of the IAAF World Indoor Championship standard of 7:50.00 to be held in Sopot, Poland.