Trojans Ready for NAIA Indoor Nationals
TU Men's Championships Central | TU Women's Championships Central
UPLAND, Ind. – After posting top-four finishes on the men's and women's side at the Crossroads League Indoor Championships, the Taylor track program has its eyes set on a strong finish at the NAIA Indoor National Championships on February 27 through March 1 in Gainesville, Florida.
Taylor will send 16 student-athletes to compete in 10 events over the course of the three-day meet. The TU men will have nine athletes competing in five events, while the Taylor women's team has seven athletes competing in five events.
Both teams will have the opportunity to pile up points and All-American performances, with the women's team touting a top-eight seed in all but one of its scheduled events and the men's team boasting a trio of top-eight seeds entering the meet.
The women's team will enter as the top seed in the distance-medley relay and the 5,000-meters. The group of Nicole Domene, Emersyn Funk, Abby Mays and Noel VanderWall posted the second-best DMR time in the NAIA this year with a track adjusted mark of 11:58.25 at the CL Championships and Jaynie Halterman's adjusted 5,000-meters time of 16:21.04 at the CL meet was 28 seconds better than the next-best time in the NAIA this season.
Other top seeds for the TU women's team includes Mays as a two-seed in the 1,000-meters after her adjusted time of 2:54.27 at the league meet and VanderWall as a three-seed in the mile after her adjusted mark of 4:54.91 at the league meet.
Sam Patterson will join Halterman in the 5,000-meters as the six-seed with her adjusted time of 17:12.65 from the league meet and Kiana Siefert will round out TU's list of competitors as a qualifier in the long jump.
On the men's side, Nathan Burns and Ryan Hanak figure to lead the charge for TU as the two and three-seeds in the 3,000-meters after posting adjusted times of 8:15.99 and 8:16.76 at the league championships.
Taylor's third top-eight seed comes via Luke Harber as the seven-seed in the 5,000-meters with a time of 14:38.25 at the IWU Midwest Classic early into the indoor campaign.
Any individual or relay finishing among the top-eight at NAIA Nationals will automatically receive NAIA All-American honors, in addition to scoring points for the team standings.
TU is set to open its showing at Nationals on Thursday, February 27 at 1:15 pm (ET) when Halterman and Patterson take the track for the 5,000-meter women's prelims. Harber will open the action for the men's team moments later in the men's 5,000 prelims at 2:00 pm.
Fans can access links to the free NAIA webcast, live stats, full meet schedule and more by visiting the Taylor Indoor Track and Field National Championships Centrals at the links listed above.
Taylor Women's Qualifiers and Seed
DMR: Nicole Domene, Emersyn Funk, Abby Mays, Noel VanderWall (1)
5K: Jaynie Halterman (1)
1K: Abby Mays (2)
Mile: Noel VanderWall (3)
5K: Sam Patterson (6)
LJ: Kiana Siefert (23)
Taylor Men's Qualifers and Seed
3K: Nathan Burns (2)
3K: Ryan Hanak (3)
5K: Luke Harber (7)
Mile: Joel Mumaw (9)
PV: Josh Forbes (11)
Mile: Jared Stayte (11)
DMR: Bradley Braxton, Ethan Morgan, Joel Mumaw, Bryce Noble (22)