May 29, 2016

Hall and Wilchcombe Repeat as NAIA All-Americans

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Matt Hall and Brandan Wilchcombe highlighted the final day of the 2016 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships for the Taylor men's track team by picking up All-American honors in their events.

The third day in Gulf Shores, Alabama started outside of Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium with Aaron Scott and Aaron Crull scoring top-30 finishes in the marathon. Scott finished 20th with a time of 2:54:19.60 and Crull followed at 3:00:21.20 in 26th. Ben Stuckey also competed in the event for the Trojans but did not finish.

Joseph Beamish took the track next in the finals of the men's steeplechase. Beamish struggled to a time of 10:29.04 and finished 16th overall.

Wilchcombe followed in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles and ran a season-best time of 14.50 to claim his third NAIA All-American honor. The senior sprinter finished fifth in the event to repeat his accomplishment from the outdoor championships in 2015.

Hall closed the meet for Taylor with a time of 14:46.48 and a fourth-place showing in an extremely competitive 5,000-meter finals. The All-American honor was Hall's third-straight in the outdoor 5,000-meter race and gave the junior five NAIA All-American awards in his three years with the Purple and Gold.

Taylor picked up nine points at the national championship meet with the pair of All-American performances, ending 32nd overall as a team.

Hall and Wilchcombe were joined from the women's team by Anissa Richards and Plenseh-Tay Sakeuh, who earned All-American honors in the marathon and 100-meter hurdles respectively to give Taylor a total of four NAIA All-American honors at the outdoor national championships.

Taylor University ends the 2015-2016 year with 13 NAIA All-Americans from its 18 varsity athletic programs.