MARION, Ind. – Led by some truly outstanding performances in the field earlier in the day, the UBC Thunderbirds wrapped up a solid first day of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships with highly positive results on the track as well in Marion, Indiana.
For the second straight year,
Sonya Urbanowicz claimed the women's pole vault championship, earning 10 of UBC's 18 team points on the day as the T-Birds sit second in the overall standings heading into Thursday.
The strong first day of the meet was capped off by senior distance specialist
Andrew Davies who earned silver in the men's 10,000 metres. His time of 30:12.35 was less than four seconds behind the winner from Oklahoma City and more than nine seconds ahead of third. Davies' eight team points helped push the UBC men to a 17 point total and the overall lead.
Entering the meet as the NAIA's number one ranked female pole vaulter, Urbanowicz once again made good on the biggest stage. The sophomore from Nanaimo was the only competitor to clear 3.85 metres to become just the third woman in history to secure back-to-back titles.
The terrific UBC day in field events actually began even earlier when both
Matthew Uliana and freshman
Deven Marrero earned NAIA All-American status with top eight finishes in men's hammer throw. Uliana's top throw on the day of 58.71 metres took fifth place for the sophomore in his second national championship meet.
Marrero hit a personal best of 57.11 metres on his first attempt of the day which stood as the eighth best among the 28 competitors by the time the final was complete.
Following on the strength of the men's hammer throw,
Michelle Dadson had her best ever performance in the women's competition, finishing with the bronze medal after a personal best of 57.84 metres which now also stands as a new program record. The junior from New Westminster hit three personal bests among her six total throws on Wednesday.
Junior javelin thrower
Cameron Kuziak became an NAIA All-American for the second straight year, finishing fifth with a top attempt Wednesday of 62.66 metres.
Freshman
Sarah Snell also earned All-American status with a seventh place finish in women's javelin, reaching 41.74 metres in the face of some strong headwinds that shifted as the evening progressed.
2023 NAIA heptathlon silver medallist
Rebecca Dutchak had a tremendous start to her quest to finish atop the podium this year. Through four events, the Victoria native sits second with 3157 points, just 11 behind the leader from Central Methodist.
Dutchak led off with a 100 metre hurdles personal best time of 14.15, followed by another PB of 1.61 metres in the high jump. Finishing second and seventh, respectively in the first two events, she took eighth place in shot put before finishing out the day with another massive personal best in the 200 metres, claiming first with a 25.25. The remaining three of the seven events begin Thursday morning with the long jump.
Aside from the 10,000 metre races, all of Wednesday's track events were qualifying heats for finals Thursday and Friday. While nothing is guaranteed based on ranking coming into the national championship meet, the Thunderbirds rose to the occasion and in several cases finished above their individual rankings to get the opportunity to claim further team points later in the week.
The women's 4x800 metre relay easily qualified for Thursday's final.
Emmajean Neal,
Abby Ylipahkala,
Rachel Mortimer and
Holly MacGillivray won their heat – and turned in the fastest qualifying time – with a 9:02.36.
UBC will have three women in the 1500 metre final as
Holly MacGillivray,
Katelyn Cotterell and
Sarah MacGillivray all earned automatic qualifiers to Friday's final as they finished with three of the top four times in the first heat.
Liam Kramer will race in Friday's men's 1500 final after finishing top four in his heat.
The 3000 metre steeplechase has long been a UBC specialty in both genders, and Wednesday night saw that trend continue.
Kiana Gibson and
Elysse Fleming finished first and second, respectively, in their qualifying heat as both will race in the final on Friday afternoon.
Dylan Uhrich will be back in the men's steeple final after winning his heat. The UBC veteran will be joined by freshman
Maximilien Filion who finished second in his heat and will race in his first NAIA championship final on Friday.
The vast majority of final events are still to come – along with plenty more qualifying races – as the championship meet continues on Thursday. A live stream of all events is available
HERE while a schedule and live results can be found
HERE.
