JOLIET, Ill. -- For the third straight year, Campbellsville University claimed a men's outdoor track and field individual national championship at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Championships. Only this time, instead of a possible three-peat by senior triple jumper
Detrick Briggs, it was freshman sprinter
Xavier Walker who took top prize at the meet at St. Francis University.
Walker raced his way to a national title in the 400-meter dash, giving the Tiger outdoor track and field program its third national championship, which is the most of any program in CU school history. CU's men's swimming had two individual NAIA champions in the late 1990s and Tiger wrestling has two individual NAIA national titles.
The Radcliff, Ky., native won the meet with a time of 49.22 seconds. He shaved a half second off his preliminary time to break the school record for the event by eight-tenths of a second. Cody Eubanks previously held the record with a time of 49.30 during the 2007 season.
Campbellsville collected 42 team points to finish sixth in the 15-team meet. Walker led the Tigers with 12 points, 10 from his national title and two from a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter dash. Dale Kerr was second in individual points with 10, as he finished third in the shot put and fifth in the discus.
Like most of the season, the Tigers collected most of their points (17) in the triple jump competition.
Briggs' two-year reign as NCCAA triple jump national champ fell about 10 inches short of a three-eat Friday. Briggs jumped 13.83 meters (45 feet, 4.5 inches), while Boyd Calen of Bethel University (Ind.) had a mark of 14.09 meters (46 feet, 2.75 inches). Randles followed Briggs in third place with a 13.71-meter jump, while Timmy Perdue was sixth with a mark of 13.14 meters.
Others to score points were Jermaine Dumas with a fifth-place shot put finish, David McKellar with a seventh-place decathlon finish and Chris Brown with an eighth-place javelin throw.
The meet began Thursday with the first five events taking place Thursday. McKellar started the meet with a third-place finish in the decathlon 100-meter dash with a time of 11.70, .28 off the lead. McKellar was second in the long jump with a distance of 20 feet, 4.25 inches. After the first two events, he was in second-place overall with 1,341 points, less than 100 behind first-day leader Aaron Steensma of Roberts Wesleyan College. The third and fourth events did damage to McKellar's standings, as he finished 12th in the shot put and eighth in the high jump. Before the first day's competition came to a close, he bounced back with a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter dash.
Entering the second day, McKellar was in fifth-place overall, but struggled again in field events, posting a 12th-place finish in the discus, 11th place in the javelin and seventh in the pole vault. McKellar was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and sixth in the 1,500-meter run. Mike Herrera of Cedarville won the decathlon. McKellar had a better mark or time than the champ in the 100-meter dash, long jump, 400-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles and 1,500-meter run. His final point total of 4,930 points was 703 points out of first-place. The seventh-place finish gave the Tigers two team points.
Campbellsville is next scheduled to compete in the Louisville Cardinal Twilight meet Friday, May 13.
CU Top 8 Finishers
Decathlon
7. David McKellar, 4,930 Points
200-Meter Dash
7. Xavier Walker, 22.95
400-Meter Dash
1. Xavier Walker, 49.22
110-Meter Hurdles
8. P.J. Randles, 15.37
Triple Jump
2. Detrick Briggs, 13.83m
3. P.J. Randles, 13.71m
6. Timmy Perdue, 13.14m
Shot Put
3. Dale Kerr, 13.45m
5. Jermaine Dumas, 12.91m
Discus
5. Dale Kerr, 39.10m
Javelin
8. Chris Brown, 45.18m
Complete Results
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