MARION, Ind. – Led by a pair of outstanding field event championships, the UBC Thunderbirds had a strong opening day of the 2023 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.
For the third time since 2019 – and in as many trips to the national meet –
Rowan Hamilton is the NAIA men's hammer throw champion after securing 71.97 metres on his first attempt which stood up as the best of the day by more than a ten metre margin over the silver medallist.
Scoring the first points of the day for the T-Birds, Hamilton's championship performance was infectious as
Sonya Urbanowicz shortly after claimed the women's pole vault title, a first for UBC. The freshman from Nanaimo was the only competitor to clear 3.95 metres, which also stands as her season best.
Entering competitors in both the heptathlon and decathlon this year, the T-Birds are in very strong shape in both grueling events.
Freshman
Nate Paris is leading the decathlon through five events with a point total of 4055, 232 ahead of his closest competitor. Paris started the entire meet with a blazing 100 metre time of 10.55 setting a new NAIA championship meet record. Paris also claimed first in long jump reaching 7.13 metres, a new personal best, and was tops in the 400 metres with a time of 48.49. Paris finished second in high jump clearing 1.94 metres and took sixth in shot put with a personal best throw of 12.10 metres.
Rebecca Dutchak is back competing in the heptathlon for the second straight year after finishing fifth in 2022. Through five of the seven events, Dutchak is second with 2899 points, just 28 off the pace. She finished second in the 100 metre hurdles with a personal best time of 14.57. Her 200 metres saw another personal best set with a 25.97, good for fourth. Dutchak finished third in shot put and 16
th in high jump as she is in terrific position to make a push on day two of the heptathlon Thursday.
Sophomore
Cameron Kuziak improved two spots on his sixth place ranking in men's javelin, taking fourth in Marion on Wednesday with a key five team points thanks to his top attempt of 61.62 metres.
Emma Rastad finished eighth in women's long jump reaching 5.62 metres.
The women's 10,000 metres Wednesday evening saw
Marley Beckett finish fourth with a time of 36:36.64, adding another five points to UBC's total.
Several preliminary events on day one of the championship meet have the 'Birds in strong position entering final events Thursday and Friday.
Two T-Birds will be represented in the women's 1500 metre final on Friday as both
Holly MacGillivray and
Amelia Pfohl earned their way through finishing in the top four of their heat – which was won by MacGillivray.
The men's 1500 final will also feature a pair in the blue and gold as
Spencer Hardy and
Liam Kramer both qualified.
Hanna Sobkowich will compete in Friday's women's 200 metre final after qualifying Wednesday.
A veteran of the 3000 metre steeplechase,
Jamie Hennessey will be back in the women's final after finishing third in her heat on Wednesday. Finishing fourth in last year's final at nationals, Hennessey will be looking to close out her final championship meet with a bang.
The women's 4x800 metre relay will also be back in the final after winning their preliminary heat. Winning gold in the relay in each of their last three trips to nationals, the T-Birds will get a chance to continue their dominance in Friday's final.
Thanks to all of the above mentioned efforts, UBC leads the 2023 National Championship on both the men's and women's sides after the first day of competition. The men have put up 15 team points for a five point advantage over The Master's while the women have gained 16 points, four ahead of both Siena Heights and The Master's.
With the vast majority of final events still to come, however, so much is yet to be decided.
Day two of the 2023 championships gets underway Thursday morning, once again with Paris and Dutchak opening up as they'll conclude their decathlon and heptathlon pursuits starting at 7:00 a.m. PT.
Live results and a complete schedule of the meet is available
HERE and live streaming can be found
HERE.
