Nine Seeking Postseason Glory at NAIA Nationals
Oskaloosa–Nine members of the William Penn indoor track and field teams will be facing off against the best in the nation as they compete at the 59th Annual Men’s and 44th Annual Women’s NAIA National Championship Thursday through Saturday.
The Championship will be held at Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings, S.D.
The men’s 4×800-meter relay team will be WPU’s first competitors, entering Thursday’s preliminary round race (4 p.m.) with the 18th-best time of 7:49.45, while Kansas Wesleyan leads the field at 7:39.81. The Statesmen quartet will come from the following five individuals with one serving as an alternate: D’Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services), Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering), Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management), Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science), and Ethan Varvelo (Jr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology).
Abigaille Batu-Tiako (Sr., Plattsburgh, N.Y., Business Management) will begin William Penn’s busy Friday, battling in the long jump at 1 p.m. She comes into nationals with the 23rd-best mark at 18-1.75, while Machaeda Linton of William Carey (Miss.) has the country’s top jump of 19-8.
Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) will be next in the 60-meter dash at 2:35 p.m. The junior is seeded 17th in the NAIA with a time of 6.80 seconds, while Barnabas Aggerh of William Carey is first in 6.64 seconds.
Williams will make his second appearance on the oval, running in the 800-meter dash at 3 p.m. He sits fifth at 1:52.89, while Carter Huyser (Kansas Wesleyan) is tops in the country (1:52.11).
The 1,000-meter run is the next event for WPU (3:30 p.m.) with Heckenberg hitting the track as the #14 seed at 2:28.07. Luca Santorum of Cumberlands (Ky.) has the NAIA’s best time at 2:23.87.
Beaver will conclude Friday with the 3,000-meter run at 4:15 p.m. The junior ranks 18th in the field (8:28.63), while Jackson Wiley of Rocky Mountain (Mont.) is the top seed at 8:07.40.
Saturday’s competitors include Erica Martin (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Sports Management) in the shot put at 11:30 a.m. and Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) in the triple jump at 1:30 p.m. Martin is 17th in the field (44-1.5) with Princess Kara (Indiana Wesleyan) first at 49-11.75. Weaver’s qualifying jump of 47-2.5 has him seeded 21st, while Seth Alexander of Xavier (La.) is #1 in the NAIA at 50-8.25.
