Read the latest news on Roberts, our alumni, and the campus community. Check here for alumni updates as well. Click here to send us your updates!
Track & Field Finish Strong at NCCAA National Championships
RESULTS (HTML)
ROME, Ga. – On the second day of the NCCAA National Championships, Roberts Wesleyan track & field saw several top performances as both teams finished near the top of the final standings.
The men's team scored a combined 40 points to placed eighth out of 24 teams who scored while the women's team finished sixth out of 26 scoring teams with 58 points. Oklahoma Baptist won both the men's and women's championships was they scored 176 and 152 points respectively.
For the men's team, Aaron McGinnis took second place with a record-setting leap of 7.39m on his fifth attempt. The distance was an NCCAA meet record, but was short lived as Oklahoma Baptist's Jordan Patterson won the event with a new meet record with a jump of 7.43m.
Distance runners Matthew Watson and Justin Bender placed third and fifth respectively in the 3,000m steeplechase with times of 9:32.23 and 9:47.21 for the Redhawks as Aaron Bellomo took fourth in the 1,500m with a time of 3:57.49. In the 4x800m relay, Bellomo and Bender teamed with Keith Pease and Thomas Rodger to post a fourth-place finish with a time of 7:46.32.
On the women's side, sprinter Chelsea Hayward set new program records in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. In the 100m, the sophomore placed second with a blistering time of 11.95, which falls under the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 11.99 seconds. In the 200m, Hayward took third place with a time of 24.12 seconds. She then joined Kathlen Amstad, Kristina Button, and Danielle Budd to finish second in the 4x100m relay with a time of 47.26.
Amstad also had a productive second day as the freshman placed fifth in the 100m (12.37) and sixth in the 200m (24.85).
In the distance events, Rachel Hutchinson placed third in the 1,500m with a time of 4:41.50 as Elizabeth Valentowas sixth overall with a time of 4:47.11. In the 4x800m relay, Valento, Hutchinson, Emily Betts, and Emilee Durson took third with their time of 9:23.71.