Fort Wayne, Indiana - The men's track & field team would tally 105.5 points to finish fourth at the WHAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Saints collected a pair of conference titles and added a national qualifying mark on the afternoon.
The Saints were led by the duo of
Juan David Hernandez and
Brian Langlois. After finishing second in the 10,000 meters on Thursday night, Hernandez would capture the win in the 5,000 meters in a time of 15:17.22. Langolis would win his second consecutive 3,000 meter steeplechase title in a provisional qualifying time of 9:18.67. He would later place second to Hernandez in the 5,000 meters (15:18.01). The pair were honored as the Most Valuable Performers of the meet as they both tallied 18 points to the team score. The Saints also received scoring efforts from a trio of athletes in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and the 5,000 meters.
Parker Fenton placed third in the steeplechase (9:51.81), while
Shema Reponse (9:55.55) added a fifth place finish.
Will VanderBor would place seventh in the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:26.60.
The Saints also received a big effort from
Jaben Bakker (1:54.46) in the 800 meters to finish in fourth place in a loaded field. He later would team up with
Juan Garcia Valdes,
Marcus Mitchell, and
Keiton Fase to place fifth in the 4x400 meter relay (3:21.90). Mitchell (49.74) placed fifth in the 400 meters, while Garcia Valdes (49.78) finished one spot back in sixth in the one lap event.
The field events were led by the performance of
Wesley Russell in the shot put. Russell's toss of 45-5 secured the third place finish. In discus, the Saints were paced by
Ryan McGuire's (136-10) fifth place finish.
Jesse Henderson (14-9.25),
Brady Lewis (14-3.25), and
Joe Farage (14-3.25) placed fifth, seventh, and eighth respectively in the pole vault. Adding points in the jumps were
Chris Jackson and
Jacob Merryfield. Jackson placed sixth in the high jump (6-4), whild Merryfield was seventh in the triple jump (43-7.5).
Adrian Romero was named to the WHAC's Champions of Character team.
The Saints will now prep for last chance meets and the NAIA Outdoor National Championships.
