Sophomore Baidy Ba set his second program record of the year Saturday.

In the season opener for the men’s track team, Ba set a new program record in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 13:58.49. James Sjostrom, who ran in 2005, previously held the record with a time of 14:12.93.

At the NCAA Great Lakes Regional championships in November, Ba broke the cross country program’s 10k record with a time of 30:07.0. That record has stood for 21 years.

With that time, he qualified for the NCAA cross country championships at Oklahoma State Nov. 19, where he placed 126th. At OSU, Ba ran the second-fastest 10k in Kent State history with a time of 30:26.1.

He was the first KSU runner since 2012 to compete in the race.

Ba placed seventh at the Mid-American Conference championships Oct. 29 with a time of 23:55.6. He had been the top-performing runner two meets this year for Kent State.

The men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete at the Falcon Early Bird Open Jan. 14.

Kyle Kuchta is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].