STORY AND PHTOS BY MADISON SHAPLAND
After sending 18 athletes to the NCAA DII Outdoor National Championships, the Fort Hays State University Track team walked away from Michigan with five podium places.
The humid and rainy weather did not affect the Tigers’ success at the national meet. In 14 of the 16 events Fort Hays competed in, 15 tigers placed 15th and above. The track team also had five first-Team All-American and six second-Team All-American titles.
Ethan Lang (sophomore) brought home 22nd in the 800m run while Rhyann Brown (sophomore) placed 17th in javelin. After struggling with an elbow injury, fellow javelin thrower r David Enns (senior) finished his last season with a throw good for 19th place.
Xavier Robinson (sophomore) secured a 14th place finish in the triple jump and Robbie Schmidt (senior) ran the 5,000m run and finished 15th. The men also sent two relay teams in the 4x100m and the 4x400m relays and ended with 12th and 13th place finishes respectively.
Schmidt, Alexandra Hart, Jacob Clark, and Juniors Lyric Holman and Mattie Rossi all earned second-team All American honors. Schmidt earned this honor in the 10,000m run where he finished 12th. Sophomores Hart and Clark received the title by placing 12th in the women’s high jump and 9th in the men’s pole vault. Holman raced in the 200m dash placing 12th. Rossi finished 9th in both the heptathlon and 100m hurdles to receive two Second-Team All-American titles.
For Holman, although she had nerves prior to the race, she is proud of her finish.
“I was very nervous and anxious to run but it’s also a very great, fun, and proud feeling to make it to the finals and place on the podium in the top eight,” Holman said. “I’m very grateful and I couldn’t have done it without my coaches and teammates.”
Juniors Ryan Stanley and Holman finished 8th in the men’s pole vault and in the 100m dash to earn first-team All-American honors. Joining them in receiving this title was Nolan Churchman (sophomore) for placing 5th in the decathlon and Addie Berens for a 4th place finish in the javelin. Rossi placed 2nd in the 400m hurdles to also get the title of first-team All-American.
“It feels amazing,” Rossi said. “This weekend was a big load for me so it just feels really good to be done and to have a second-place trophy. I’m just excited to be here.”
“It feels really good,” Churchman added. “After a couple days of some hard work, being able to get on the podium is just icing on the cake.”
Overall, the FHSU women finished 18th with a total of 14 points and the men finished 39th with five points.
