X 4 CHAMPIONS NATIONAL

RUNNERS CLAIM TWO INDOOR TITLES, TWO OUTDOOR TITLES

The Bearcat track and field teams capped their 2023 by capturing a pair of national championships at both of their indoor and outdoor finales, including double women’s 4x400 relay titles.

The Bearcats sent 22 national qualifiers – 10 women and 12 men – to the NCAA Division II outdoor track and field championships May 25-27 in Pueblo, Colorado, and left with 26 All-America accolades – 15 for the women and 11 for the men – as the women’s team finished 13th and the men placed 22nd.

Chloe Saenz, Luisarys Toledo, Kaylee Harp and Tiffany Hughey won the women’s 4x400 relay in the championship meet’s final event and set a school record of 3:33.44 to complete a sweep of the indoor and outdoor national championships in the event. It also was the first national championship for a Bearcat women’s outdoor relay team.

On day two of the outdoor championships, junior Reece Smith blew away the field on his way to a second consecutive national title in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Smith finished 5.73 seconds ahead of his closest competitor in a time of 9:07.03. He also earned an All-America honor with a sixth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run, giving him four career outdoor All-America accolades to go with two indoor All-America nods.

Toledo, a sophomore, broke her own school record and earned

All-America honors, placing second in the nation with a mark of 6.34m (20’ 9.75”) in the women’s long jump on day one of the outdoor championships. On day three, she gained her second All-America honor with an eighth-place finish in the women’s 400-meter dash in a time of 54.04.

Harp, a junior, also was among the Bearcats to earn indoor and outdoor All-America honors, placing 12th at the indoor championship and seventh in the outdoor championship in the women’s 800-meter run.

Additionally, senior Dakota Schmidt completed his Bearcat career with a 16th-place finish in the men’s javelin, becoming a two-time NCAA outdoor All-American in the event. He also was honored with the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 Award, which is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average at each of the NCAA’s championships. He is the third Bearcat to earn the Elite 90 Award, joining football player Trevor Adams in 2013 and men’s basketball player Jaran Richman in 2021.

“It’s fun as a coach to know in the first couple weeks of practice that this team was different and special,” said head coach Brandon Masters, who was named to the MIAA Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year with assistant Nikki Wetstein, assistant Wick Cunningham ’17, ’19, throwing coach Derrick Schluter and graduate assistant Lisette Perez. “This team’s success comes from having leaders that wanted more, athletes that believed in their coaching staff and believed in goals we set as a team from our first team meeting.”

Earlier in May in Jefferson City, Missouri, the Bearcat women captured the program’s third MIAA outdoor track and field championship with four individual MIAA champions along with the 4x400 relay crown.

Toledo was the meet’s top female point-scorer as she tallied individual titles in the long jump and the 400-meter dash and took third in the 200-meter dash. Senior Caroline Cunningham, a twotime MIAA indoor champ in the mile run, posted her first outdoor MIAA championship by winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Harp took first-place honors in the 800-meter dash and capped the weekend by helping the ’Cats win the 4x400-meter relay with Saenz, Hughey and freshman Kennedi Cline.

The Bearcat men took fifth place at the conference championship as Smith claimed his third consecutive 3,000-meter steeplechase MIAA title and his second 5,000-meter crown to give him five career outdoor MIAA championships.

Indoor Track And Field Season

The Bearcats sent a program-record 21 student-athletes to compete at the NCAA Division II indoor track and field national championship meet in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in March and secured 16 All-America titles to go with national championships in the women’s 4x400 relay squad and the men’s 400-meter dash.

The 4x400 relay team of Saenz, Toledo, Cline and Hughey set the Division II indoor record with a time of 3:36.76. Later, Truman Hare did not let the big stage affect his performance as a freshman and claimed the national title in the men’s 400-meter dash with a time of 46.99.

The men tied for seventh at the national indoor meet, and the women tied for 10th. By the end of the indoor season, the Bearcat women had notched 10 school records and the men tallied six.

“I knew the women would be extremely tough to beat this year, not only at the conference level but also a potential top-10 team in the country,” Masters said. “What I didn’t know is how the men would come together as a team and do something extraordinary. I thought we were a top-20 team, but to finish seventh overall was a testament to the character and talent.”

The Bearcats geared up for the national meet at the MIAA indoor championship at Pittsburg State University. There, the women’s distance medley relay squad of Whitney Post, Olivia Sattlefield, Alyna Thibault and Harp captured the MIAA title with a meet record time of 11:51.96. Not to be outdone, the Bearcats added MIAA championship performances from Bailey Blake (women’s 800m), R.J. Williams (men’s 600-yard run), Toledo (women’s 600yard run) and the women’s 4x400-meter relay team of Saenz, Cline, Sattlefield and Hughey.

The women finished second at the MIAA indoor championship, and the men finished fifth. The Bearcats also had 31 studentathletes – 18 women, 13 men – earn MIAA academic recognition for their work in the classroom.

“This is the closest team I’ve ever had,” Masters said. “We are a family. It is the hardest-working team I’ve ever coached, and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had as a coach. Those are absolutely the ingredients for a team that will accomplish great things.”