BROOKINGS, S.D. – Eastern Oregon Track and Field put together a strong day two at the 2024 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships. Highlights of the day included two All-American performances. Judson Mansfield closed out an All-American performance in the heptathlon finishing 8th while Mark Church earned the nod in the hammer throw with a 6th place finish.
Four more Mounties narrowly missed All-American status with 9th place finishes on the day as well.
As for team results the women have yet to register a team score while the men sit at No. 19 with 4 points.
Eastern Oregon will look to add some more hardware tomorrow as they wrap up the Indoor National Championships on the third and final day of competition. Events are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. CST.
WOMEN
Two women competed for Eastern on day two of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships.
Getting competition started for the Mounties on the women’s side for the day was junior, Lauryn Mitchell in the 600-meter run. Mitchel finished 18th with a time of 1:38.15.
Kenna Woodward was the lone competitor in women’s field events on the day. The senior nearly added a second All-American award to her resume (hammer throw – 2023 outdoor season), but fell one spot short finishing 9th with a throw of 17.27 meters.
MEN
Starting things off for the men on the day was TJ Davis in the 60-meter hurdle prelims. The senior ran a blazing 8.15-second time, but was just three hundredths of a second off a finals qualification and All-American award finishing ninth overall.
Moving on to the 400, record-holder, Osman Osman, ran another great time finishing 14th overall in the prelims. His time of 48.26 seconds was just under three tenths of a second from the closest finals qualifying time.
In the distance races, two Mounties were in the mix in the 1000-meter run prelims. Jonathan Wind and Hunter Nichols finished 11th and 13th respectively. Wind was just over a second off of the closest finals qualifying time with a time of 2:28.91.
Stretching races out further, Eastern had two runners put together strong races in the 3,000-meter prelims. The Mounties earned their first finals qualification of the day on the track thanks to Justin Ash who shot up the standings in the program record book to third all-time with a time of 8:29.07. Ash finished 4th overall with his personal best time. Narrowly missing out on a finals qualification was Winston Telford who finished 13th, one spot from qualifying, with a time of 8:40.28. Ash will look to compete for a championship title and All-American honor in the event tomorrow in the finals set to start at 3 p.m. CST.
Starting off the day was the men’s heptathlon where Judson Mansfield turned a strong start in the competition into an All-American-worthy performance. The senior jumped three places thanks to three top-10 finishes in the final three events to finish with a total of 4,822 points. His best performance came in the pole vault where he finished 6th clearing 4.25 meters. Finishing 8th overall, Mansfield earned All-American honors in the heptathlon, the first All-American honor of his career.
Also competing in the heptathlon, senior Israel Miles improved upon his day one standing moving up to finish 13th overall. Miles posted an improved performance in the final three events highlighted by a 5th place finish in the 60-meter hurdles and a 6th place finish in the pole vault (Miles and Mansfield tied in the pole vault.)
One more Mountie took home All-American honors on the day, this time in the weight throw. Mark Church continued his regular season momentum into the championships setting a new personal record by more than two feet with a throw of 18.42 meters. The mark ranks second all-time in the program records and earned the sophomore a 6th place finish in the event automatically deeming him an All-American for the first time in his career.
On the other side of the venue, Tyler Jones put together a quality performance and just missed out on an All-American nod in the high jump. The junior cleared 2.05 meters, the same mark as the five competitors ahead of him, but fell to 9th based on attempts.
