MEET RECAP: 2022 NCAA DIII Indoor T&F Championships

Champions were crowned at the 2022 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

This was the first time that the meet was held since 2019. It was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Keep reading below to find out what happened in the meet!

Men’s Recap

Dramatic doesn’t even begin to describe the battle for the men’s team title.

The winner being decided in the final event of the afternoon? Check.

Original results that showed a tie between two programs? Check.

A protest that DQ’d the winner of the 4×400 and sent one of those tied programs to sole possession of the national title by virtue of their runner-up (now first-place) effort in the relay? Check.

Another protest that DQ’d both the winner of the 4×400 as well as that tied program that thought it had sole possession of the national title, giving the other program that was tied the national title? Check.

Then, when the dust settled, it all went back to normal? Check.

Long story short, UW-Eau Claire and Washington (Mo.) each won a share of the national title as they each scored 35 points. What makes it even more remarkable is that the Bears and the Blugolds each scored in five different events with their only shared scoring opportunity in the 4×400 relay (WashU ended up second behind Rowan; UW-Eau Claire took fifth).

Williams (third, 32) and Loras (fourth, 30) rounded out the podium teams with SUNY Geneseo (fifth, 27) finishing a close fifth.

Women’s Recap

It was worth the wait for Loras.

The Duhawks captured their first indoor national title in program history on Saturday, as they scored 59 points thanks to four event titles and a runner-up finish in another, among other efforts.

Kassie Parker did most of the heavy lifting for Loras, competing the distance double with a meet-record victory on Friday in the 5000 meters and a tactical win in the 3000 meters on Saturday. That mark in the 5000 of 16:15.06 is also the second-fastest effort on a record-eligible track in NCAA DIII history. Parker also anchored the Duhawks to a runner-up finish in the distance medley relay on Friday night.

Alyssa Pfadenhauer added 10 more points to Loras’ total with a podium-topping effort in the 400. Pfadenhauer also ran the 400-meter leg on the Duhawks’ DMR.

UW-La Crosse finished second with 44 points, while Ithaca and Johns Hopkins rounded out the podium with 40 and 33, respectively. The Eagles had a well-rounded performance, scoring in nine of the 17 events, which included a victory in both the pentathlon (Hannah Zenkovich) and shot put (Skye Digman).

Let’s Look Back At Day 1

There were some BIG moments on Day 1 of the 2022 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Here are a few of them.

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE RESULTS FROM THE MEET
CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF WINNERS SO FAR

Kassie Parker of Loras and Ari Marks of Wellesley put on a masterclass performance in the Women’s 5000 Meters. Parker and Marks both went under the former meet record of 16:28.15 set by Taryn Cordani of Ithaca back in 2017. The former won the race in 16:15.06 to move up to No. 2 in NCAA DIII history on a record-legal track, while the latter came home in 16:19.20 to put herself in the No. 3 position on the all-time chart. Parker had opened a sizable lead on Marks halfway through the race, but Marks fought back and even took the lead with 800 meters to go. However, Parker – the fastest woman in NCAA DIII history over 5000m, regardless of track size – powered home over the final 400 meters to secure her first win of the championships (Parker doubled back to help Loras take runner-up honors in the Women’s Distance Medley Relay and will contest the 3000m on Day 2).

JP Vaught of Centre and Jah’Mere Beasley of Rowan both went under the former meet record in the prelims of the Men’s 200 Meters. Beasley got the party started in Heat 2 with his 21.63 effort, which bettered the previous meet record of 21.68 from Juwan Petties of Misercordia in 2017. Then Vaught took Heat 4 in 21.56 to put his name at the top of the all-time list in meet history. That means that Saturday’s final is going to be lightning quick, especially with all qualifiers under 21.85.

Washington (Mo.) and Williams pushed each other to record times in the Men’s Distance Medley Relay. The Bears won the event in a championships record of 9:54.26 with the Ephs right behind in 9:54.50. WashU had splits of 3:04.22 (Jeff Candell), 50.75 (Jackson Cox), 1:53.67 (Alex Cobin) and 4:05.62 (Jacob Ridderhoff), while Williams went 3:06.17 (Nate Lentz), 51.08 (Jacob Davis), 1:55.45 (Jinwoo Kang) and 4:02.10 (Aidan Ryan).

Day 2 begins at 11 am ET on Saturday with three field events and the continuation of the Men’s Heptathlon.