The Northwest Missouri State track and field teams did not come home with any team or individuals titles at the MIAA Indoor Championships, but had several performances to help solidify NCAA Provisional marks for the NCAA National Championships in March.
The Bearcat men finished seventh as a team while the women finished ninth during the three-day event. Central Missouri ran away with the men’s title while Lincoln edged Central Missouri on the women’s side.
Seven Northwest men earned top five finishes highlighted by Travis Manning and Porter Groves who each improved their NCAA provisional marks while Will Haer completed a runner-up finish in the pole vault.
Groves earned a third-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 48 feet. Groves was just six inches behind champion Taylor McClelland from Missouri Southern with a jump of 48-06.75. The Lions claimed first and second-place finishes in the triple jump as they earned a runner-up team finish.
Travis Manning improved his time in the 60-meter hurdles, but will have to wait and see if it was fast enough to earn a spot in next month’s National Championships.
Although Haer did not improve on his NCAA provisional standing, the junior stands to likely earn a spot in the NCAA meet with his jump earlier this winter.
Pittsburg State’s Colby Snyder recorded a 16-10.00 jump in the pole vault to claim the title, which was an automatic mark.
The Bearcat women saw a three top five finishes from Brittany Poole, Lekiesha McKnight and Chloe Wichman who earned her top five finish in the 600-yard run, while Brianna Evans earned an NCAA provisional in the 60-meter dash.
McKnight, who bettered her NCAA provisional, finished fourth in the shot put with a distance of 47-02.25. MIAA Champion Kayla Muyskens who threw an NCAA automatic mark of 49-09.75.
Poole ran to a third-place finish in the 3,000-meters with a time of 10:12.15 behind runners from Lincoln and Emporia State’s Katelyn Mona’s first-place time of 10:00.59.
Evans was up against some of the toughest competition as MIAA Champion, Latoya King of Lincoln, raced to the title while also capturing a building record with a time of 7.53. Evans provisional mark sits in the middle of the pack as she will also have to wait to see if her time of 7.72 will qualify her for the NCAA meet.
Evans and the rest of the Bearcats won’t know for sure if they’ve qualified for NCAAs until Feb. 28 when the official entry list is revealed. The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships are set for March 9-10 in Mankato, Minn.
— NWMSU Sports Information —