Statesmen Seeking National Glory at NAIA Championships

Oskaloosa–The William Penn track and field teams will be represented in six events as they compete in the NAIA National Championships Wednesday through Friday.

The Championships will be held in Marion, Ind. on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University. It is the 71st annual event for the men and 42nd for the women.

WPU will begin competition Wednesday at 9 a.m. (Central) with Justin Moeller (Sr., Keota, Iowa, Psychology) battling in the decathlon. He will compete in the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400-meter dash on Wednesday and then face the events of the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1,500-meter run on Thursday (10 a.m. start).

Moeller enters nationals ranked third in the country with a mark of 6,638 points.

Later on Wednesday, the men’s 4×100-meter relay squad will hit the track at 2:30 p.m. The crew consists of Tafara Hondonga (Sr., Aberdeen, S.D., Business Management), Showalter Johnson (So., Nassau, Bahamas, Business Management), Jaelen Love (Sr., Crown Point, Ind., English), and Nick Richardson-Jackson (Sr., Germantown, Md., Wellness and Recreation), with Johnny Fisher (Fr., Laporte, Colo., New Media) serving as an alternate.

The 4×1 team comes into this week ranked 31st nationally with a time of 41.42 seconds.

Also on Wednesday, Johnson will take on the 200-meter dash field at 4:25 p.m. The sophomore is 24th in the NAIA with a seed time of 21.22 seconds.

Abigaille Batu-Tiako (Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y., Business Management) will put a bow on Wednesday as she competes in the women’s long jump at 5 p.m. The junior sits in 31st place at 18-6.5.

On Thursday, Johnson, who is 19th in the country (10.47 seconds), will race in the 100-meter dash at 2:40 p.m. Hondonga will wrap up preliminary competition at 3:30 p.m. by running in the 400-meter dash. The senior is 20th nationally at 48.11 seconds.