News

It was all smiles this past weekend for the Malone Pioneers as the Out Door Track and Field program had impressive performances from both the men and women as they competed for National Championships.

The Pioneer men earned two individual NCCAA national titles thanks to Yahya Jawadi, who won the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:21.97, and Xander Heil, who took first in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:54.63. Malone scored heavily in both events, with Wyatt Royster placing fifth in the steeplechase (9:52.56), and strong finishes in the 1500 from Jawadi (2nd – 3:58.42), Gabe Shilling (4th – 4:00.30), Hayden Schmidt (5th – 4:01.68), and Chase Balko (6th – 4:01.90).

The women’s team delivered three individual national championship performances on Friday, highlighted by Graves’ victories in both the 200-meter and 400-meter races, posting times of 24.79 and 55.63 seconds, respectively. She also contributed valuable points with a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter dash, clocking in at 12.60 seconds.

This marks the first national title since 2010 and the sixth in total for the men. The women’s team was third overall behind national champions Greenville University.

In total, 11 men and 17 women were NCCAA All-Americans with a top-three finish in any of the events over the course of the weekend.