MARION, Ind. – As the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships heads into its final day of competition in Marion, Indiana, the UBC Thunderbirds have put themselves into terrific position to compete for not just one, but two title banners.
First place finishes in the heptathlon, 4x800 metre relay and the 5000 metre race walk helped lead the T-Birds women's team to a two day point total of 61 as UBC holds a 32 point lead over second place MidAmerica Nazarene heading into Friday.
The men put up a number of solid performances led by
Tyler Wilson's second place finish in the race walk, pushing UBC's total to 27, 11 behind first place Marian (Ind.) and two ahead of third place Cumberlands.
One of the biggest story lines of the day not just for UBC but for the entire meet was junior race walker
Olivia Lundman securing her third straight NAIA gold medal while setting a new record time of 22:47.37, shattering the previous high water mark of 23:19.91 held by former Thunderbird Nicola Evangelista in 2011.
The T-Birds amassed 23 points alone in the women's race walk with
Joean Lu claiming silver and
Cassidy Cardle finishing fourth. Lu's second place finish closes out the senior Thunderbird's career in which she earned a NAIA medal in each of her four national championship appearances. Cardle's fourth place is her third consecutive such finish although Thursday's time of 25:05.27 set a new personal best.
Tyler Wilson was the lone T-Bird in the men's race walk but the Surrey product made a huge mark, finishing second and earning eight points to the team total. His time of 22:17.90 was also his fastest in more than a year, despite the hot Midwest weather.
Rebecca Dutchak made major history in her own right by securing UBC's first ever NAIA heptathlon championship. The junior from Victoria entered the day second through four of the seven events but shot out to the lead in the long jump with a personal best of 6.00 metres.
Dutchak maintained her overall lead with a seventh place javelin throw heading into the 800 metre finale. Crossing the finish line in 2:28.39 – a personal best by nearly four seconds – she added another 713 points for the ninth place finish for a total of 5252, the highest championship total since 2015. Making Dutchak's feat even more impressive was the depth of her competition with the top five finishers all amassing over 5000 points.
While the T-Birds have had recent dominance in several events, none compare to the prosperity UBC has shown in the women's 4x800 metre relay. Qualifying for Thursday's final with the fastest time, the T-Birds crushed the field Friday evening, winning the event for the seventh time in the last ten championship meets.
Katelyn Cotterell,
Abby Ylipahkala,
Holly MacGillivray and
Rachel Mortimer ran an 8:46.34, more than an 11 second gap ahead of the silver medallists.
Sophomore Will Kizell entered the meet as the 20
th ranked men's discus thrower this season. But the Ontario native stepped up big time on Thursday with a seventh place finish to earn All-American status and two key team points. His top throw of 50 metres even now also stands as a new personal best.
The bulk of the meet's final races are yet to come on Friday with the potential for plenty more blue and gold to appear on the podium after more terrific qualifying marks Thursday.
Rachel Mortimer won her women's 800 mere heat with a 2:09.55 to automatically qualify for Friday's final in what stood as the third fastest time of the day.
Abby Ylipahkala also clinched a berth in the final after taking first in the last of four qualifying heats.
Spencer Hardy will compete in the NAIA men's 800 final for the first time after qualifying with a 1:51.03, a new personal best time.
Friday's women's 5000 metre final will feature three Thunderbirds after
Kiana Gibson,
Zoe Doorenspleet and
Amelia Pfohl all finished in the top 12 overall through Thursday's heats.
Andrew Davies and
Jaiveer Tiwana finished within 19 one-hundredths of each other in the second of three qualifying heats in the men's 5000 metres. Their first and second place finishes, respectively, earned them both automatic berths into Friday's final.
The third and final day of the NAIA National Championships gets underway at 10:00 a.m. PT with the first of 27 total events, many of which feature one if not multiple T-Birds who will be looking to add to UBC's point totals and the goal of securing a pair of red banners.
Live streaming of all events is available
HERE while a complete schedule along with live results are available
HERE.
