Brookings, South Dakota – Siena Heights men's indoor track and field competed in day two of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Indoor National Championships. Where the Saints saw the crowning of five athletes as NAIA All-Americans. The 4x800 team of Abdullah Nassr [SO], Joshua Cundy [FR], Cedric Grant [SO], Jacob Harberts [FR] as well as Matthew Gipple [FR] claimed spots within the top eight to take home the title of NAIA All-American.
Joshua Cundy, Cedric Grant, Jacob Harberts, Abdullah Nassr, who ran the 4x800 Meter Relay, previously held a PR (Personal Records) time of 7:49.25. While competing at nationals, the team set a new record of 7.53.03 in their 8th place finish. Yesterday, the group timed in at 7.43.73 during the preliminary rounds running in the first heat and holding a fifth-place mark.
Freshman Matthew Gipple competed in two events today, first in the 60-meter dash prelims at 2:35 PM this afternoon. Where Gipple placed 29th overall, holding a time of 6.95 and unfortunately not moving on to the finals tomorrow. Gipple also competed in the field event of long jump where he leaped a distance of 7.22 meters, besting his previous PR by 0.07 meters. Matthew earned the honor of NAIA All-American for the long jump with an 8th place overall finish in the finals.
Davion Curry also competed in the long jump for the blue and yellow earning a 20th place mark in the event with a jump of 6.84 meters. Jacob Harberts saw action again later in the day with competing in the preliminary round of the mile run. Harberts set a new PR with a run time of 4:18.19 besting himself by 0:01.19 seconds, to finish 9th place finish in heat 2 and a 17th finish overall.
Up Next – Day three of the NAIA Indoor National Championships continue for the Saints, tomorrow Saturday, March 5th with Zachary Gipple competing in the Shot-Put event at 2:00 PM.
