Marian's Run Continues Win Sixth-Consecutive Men's CL Indoor Track and Field Title
Crossroads League Championships Central
Upland, Ind. - The Marian men's track & field team came out victorious in the Indoor Crossroads League Championship. After an action packed day Marian extended their lead in the Men's team scores with a total score of 315 points. This is the most points ever scored by a men's team in Crossroads League Indoor Championship history. Indiana Wesleyan took home second place with a score of 144 and Spring Arbor rounded out the top three with a score of 75.
Along with setting the Crossroads League record for most points multiple Knights got NAIA A Standard. Including Eric Materna in the 400m, Jeremiah Brown in the 60m, Tristan Trevino in the 800m, Christian Rios in the shot put, and Victor Dailey in the High Jump. Along with the NAIA A Standard multiple Marian athletes hit the B standard including Olivier Lifrange in the 400, Ricardo Mateo and Will Osafo in the 60m, Andrew McDade in the 800, Owen Pittman and Benjamin Riehle in the 1000m, the 4x400m relay, and Gunner Kovach in the High Jump.
Felipe Mentz, Gus Martinez, and Brendan Oleksak opened up the day finishing the heptathalon. Mentz took home second place overall with 4522 points finishing second in the Long Jump (6.20m), Shot Put (11.04m), High Jump (1.81m), and 60m Hurdles (9.10). Martinez rounded out the top three with 4354 points finishing first in the 60m (7.14), the Long Jump (6.22m), and the 60m hurdles (8.94). Oleksak ended in fifth place overall with his highest placement in the 60m (7.27) to claim second overall.
The running events kicked off with the mile where Rick Williams finished in 10th while Nick Frank and Lucas Steward finished in the top-13. In the 60m Hurdels Micah Williams took home first place (8.37) and Caleb Carter secured four points for Marian with his fifth place finish (8.58). Eric Materna, Olivier Lifrange, and Eli Givens all competed and racked up points for the Knights in the 400m. Materna finished in first (48.60, NAIA A Standard) and Lifrange joined him finishing second (48.98, NAIA B Standard). Givens finished in the top-5 gaining four points for the Knights.
Marian had a clean sweep in the 60m with Jeremiah Brown finishing in first (6.74, NAIA A Standard), Ricardo Mateo finishing in second (6.79, NAIA B Standard), and Will Osafo claiming third (6.82, NAIA B Standard). The Knights then had two finish in the top-3 in the 800 with Tristian Trevino securing first (1:53.60, NAIA A Standard) and Andrew McDade claiming third (1:54.64, NAIA B Standard). Mason Piatt also finished in the top-10 and secured ninth overall. Owen Pittman and Benjamin Riehle each took home a top-5 placement in the 1000m with Pittman finishing in third (2:30.02, NAIA B Standard) and Riehle finishing in fourth (2:30.02, NAIA B Standard) while Everett Carlisle finished in the top-15.
Marian continued to rack up the points with Materna finishing in first (22.14), Brown finishing in fourth (22.47), and Jonathon Phillips finishing in sixth in the 200m. The Knights had two top-10 finishers in the 3000m with Charles Leedke finishing in 6th and Clark Chustz finishing in 10th. The men wrapped up the running events with a first place finish in the 4x400m relay (3:19.65, NAIA B Standard) (Michael Hunter, Raif Miller, Givens, Richard Dube).
Marian started out the field events with three top-5 placements in the Triple Jump with Jake Grangier securing first (13.75m), Van Lian taking home second (13.54m), and Armani Glass claiming four points for the Knights. In the shot put Christian Rios hit A standard with his first place finish (17.09m). Javian Jones secured second (15.09m) and Markevious Keys claimed four points for Marian. Victor Dailey, Gunner Kovach, and Jaiden Dresselhaus finished off the field events with the high jump. Dailey finished in first (2.06m, NAIA A Standard) while Kovach finished in second (2.03m, NAIA B Standard) and Dresselhaus finished in fourth (1.93m).
The Knights are back in action as they travel to Gainesville, Fla. to compete in the NAIA Indoor National Championship starting on Feburary 27th.
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