Meet Recap: 2023 NAIA Indoor T&F Championships

The 2023 NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Brookings, South Dakota, delivered fireworks up and down a packed schedule this weekend.

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Team titles went to Southeastern (Fla.) on the men’s side and Indiana Tech on the women’s. With one event remaining, a half-dozen men’s teams were in contention before Southeastern took the team victory after winning the 4×400. On the women’s side, Indiana Tech surged to an early lead thanks to a record effort on Day 1 and distanced itself the rest of the way, even as Addy Wiley single-handily pushed Huntington (Ind.) up the standings.

This year marks the fifth in a row that the meet was held in South Dakota. Keep reading to find out more about the dramatic team battles on both sides from this weekend’s meet. 

Men’s Recap

As happens so often with championship level track and field, it all came down to the 4×400 for a team title. 

The Southeastern University Fire, second heading into the last event, championed the 4×400 by nearly four seconds and won themselves the meet title – their first in program history. The title-winning 4×400 included Davien Worrels, Keishon Franklin, James Turner, and Joseph Taylor. Taylor’s part in the relay represented his second victory of the meet, after winning the 400 meters earlier with Franklin turning in a sixth-place performance. The Fire also earned 12 points in the 60-meter hurdles, with Davonte Vanterpool taking bronze and Darion Carter and Glenn Rodgers taking fourth and eighth, respectively. Kyle Manuel nabbed a silver medal in the shot put to add eight points to the SEU’s total.

The battle for the team title was hotly-contested, with as many as six teams within striking distance going into the final event. By virtue of its victory in the 4×400, the Fire rose from second to first with their 45-point score. Life University took runner-up honors in the team standings with 40 points, followed by Dordt University with 38.60 points and Indiana Wesleyan, which sat first entering the 4×400 relay (but didn’t qualify a team), ended up fourth with 37 points.

Those 45 points scored by Southeastern were the fewest by a men’s team champion since 2011 and tied for the third fewest since 1973.

Women’s Recap

The first event for Indiana Tech at the 2023 NAIA Indoor Championships ended in a record. The last cemented a third national title in a row and its fourth in program history.

Juanita Webster-Freeman led Warriors in dominant fashion, winning the pentathlon with an NAIA-record score of 4258 points on Day 1, before doubling back on Day 2 with more points in the long jump (fourth-place tie) and then capping it off with a third-place effort in the shot put and a fourth-place showing in the high jump. Webster-Freeman also joined Kiya Pogue and Katlyn Jones to put 16 points on the board in the 60-meter hurdles. Add it up and by the end of the meet, Webster-Freeman accounted for 31 of Indiana Tech’s 85 points.

Other leaders of Indiana Tech included Lisa Voyles (champion in the 1000 meters and bronze medalist in the mile), Jo’Deci Irby (bronze medalist in the 600 meters) and Soyinne Grenyion, who scored in the 60 meters and 200 meters.

After the Warriors in the team rankings were the Huntington Foresters with 64 points – 42.5 of which were contributed by quintuple event champion Addy Wiley – and then the William Carey Crusaders with 58 points and the Life University Running Eagles with 50 points to round out the podium.

Wiley’s achievement can’t be understated. The freshman won individual titles in the 600, 800, mile and 3000, before anchoring Huntington to victory in the distance medley relay.

Nicholas Lieggi is a junior at Emory University, studying political science and human health. Outside of academics, he manages Emory’s Track and Field and Cross Country programs, has conducted research for a variety of organizations, including the Electoral Integrity Project and the Office of the New York City Comptroller, and enjoys running, watching sports, and cooking.