MEET RECAP: 2021 NAIA Outdoor T&F Championships

Champions were crowned at the 2021 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which wrapped up Friday afternoon in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Doane (Neb.) and Madonna (Mich.) shared the men’s team title with 44 points, while Indiana Tech ran away with the women’s crown with 84 points.

Keep reading below to find out what happened!

Men’s Recap

With this meet not being held in 2020, the 2021 edition made up for the missed action in a thrilling way as two programs tied for the men’s crown for the first time in its 70-year history – and third place was just one point back.

The zany finish all came down to the final event, the 4×400-meter relay. Madonna (Mich.) had the lead with 44 points but didn’t have a 4×400 team entered. Meanwhile, Doane (Neb.) was in second place with 39 points while Indiana Tech was in fourth place with 37. Westmont (Calif.) was in third with 38, but like Madonna didn’t have a 4×4 team in the final.

The scenarios were seemingly endless.

A similar situation unfolded in March at the NAIA Indoor Championships when Indiana Tech won with a victory in the climactic 4×400. This time the Warriors didn’t need to win, but just finish second to win the team crown; coincidentally they entered with the second-best seed.

Doane only needed to finish third to win the team title; coincidentally they entered with the third-best seed.

Madonna, whose Tony Floyd had just completed a 5K-10K double to put the Crusaders in the team lead, could only watch.

The race unfolded close to chalk as No. 1 seed Wayland Baptist took control and won the 4×400 in 3:10.12. However, No. 4 seed Saint Mary (Kan.) had their best race of the year and took second (3:11.37), holding off Indiana Tech (3:11.56). That sealed the Warriors at 43 points.

Meanwhile, Doane got a great anchor leg from Zach Turner, who brought the Tigers up from seventh place to fourth. That gave Doane 44 points, tying Madonna’s point total.

It was the first NAIA outdoor men’s team crown for both Doane and Madonna. The only other team tie in this meet came on the women’s side in 2001, when Doane and Life (Ga.) finished knotted at the top. The previous closest men’s team finish came in 1959, when one point separated the top two.

Besides Floyd, Madonna had one other event winner – Steven Anderson in the 110-meter hurdles.

Doane had no individual winners but scored in 11 different events. Their biggest boost came with a 2-3 finish in the pole vault with Levi Sudbeck and Connor Floyd. Sudbeck also finished sixth in the decathlon.

Indiana Tech had two event winners in freshmen Jordan Highsmith (400) and Zayquan Lincoln (200).

In addition to Floyd, there were two other men with multiple titles. Ineh Emmanuel of William Carey won the long jump and triple jump convincingly. In the long jump he set a meet record of 8.16m (26-9¼) in winning by almost 2 feet. He won the triple jump with a wind-aided 15.96m (52-4½) in winning by over 2 feet. Emmanuel was also runner-up in the 100.

Also winning twice was freshman Senzo Sokhela of Westmont, who claimed the 1500 in 3:54.29 and 800 in 1:50.08.

Women’s Recap

Indiana Tech regained the championship position it last earned in 2014 – the first year the meet was held at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium Complex in Gulf Shores.

The Warriors entered the meet ranked No. 2 in the USTFCCCA’s National TFRI, but put together a number of solid performances to take home the championship trophy with 84 points. Finishing second was No. 3-rated William Carey (Miss.) with 65 points, just ahead of No. 1 Concordia (Neb.) at 63.5.

Indiana Tech won two events – the 5-kilometer racewalk and 100-meter hurdles – but scored their most points (18) in Wednesday’s long jump with a 2-3-5 finish. The fifth-place scorer, Leondra Correia, won Friday’s 100 hurdles, the Warriors’ next-best event with 14 points.

Runner-up William Carey went head-to-head with Indiana Tech in many events, and the Crusaders were led by Aniekeme Etim, who paced a WCU 1-2 finish in the 100 (11.44w), anchored the winning 4×100 team (45.51) and finished second in the 200 (23.57). Etim finished her career with nine NAIA titles, all but one in individual events.

The Crusaders had another event winner in freshman Joy Abu, who took the 400 hurdles (59.52) after narrowly losing the 100 hurdles to Correia.

Concordia jumped out to an early lead with 32 points on Wednesday’s Day 1, led by winners Elizabeth Stottlemyre (javelin) and freshman Josie Puelz (pole vault).

Individually the star of the meet was Emily Kearney. The graduate student at Milligan (Tenn.) won the 10,000 meters on Wednesday and the 5000 on Friday, winning both by large margins and setting meet records as well.

The former NAIA Indoor champ from 2020 as an undergrad at SCAD Atlanta won the 10K by almost 2 minutes in 34:07.91 to shave more than 6 seconds of the MR. After heats in the 5K on Thursday she came back for Friday’s final to take nearly 30 seconds off the meet standard in 16:09.11.

Another winner of note was Bria Sands of Life (Ga.). She won the long jump at 6.16m (20-2½), her first NAIA title since taking the triple jump back in 2017.