COLUMBIA, SC – The Tigers pulled out the brooms on the NCCAA Track & Field Championships with their second national title of the season Friday afternoon.
Campbellsville started off the meet strong and finished with 182 team points total, with second place coming in with 147 points.
The Tigers have once again proved that the jumps are where they get their points. Campbellsville swept the podium in the triple jump.
Corey Smith won the event with a mark of 14.65m,
Matthew Mays was the runner-up with a jump of 14.56m, and
CamRon Hamby rounded out the final All-American spot in 3rd with a jump of 14.18m.
Jaron Hamby and
Jackson Harrell gave the team more points in the event, placing 6th and 7th. J. Hamby was 6th at 12.96m, while Harrell was 7th at 12.91m.
Kilan Macklin has dominated the long jump all season since the start of indoor. He proved today that he will be one to beat in two weeks at the NAIA National Championships. Macklin won the event Friday afternoon with a mark of 7.08m.
Gregory Carr, who is traditionally a hurdle specialist, earned his way to the podium in the long jump with his 3rd place mark of 6.62m in the preliminary round. Smith and Mays rounded out points in the event. Smith was 7th at 6.37m, and Mays placed 8th, grabbing the final point in 6.33m.
The final event that gave the Tigers points in the jumps was the high jump. C. Hamby was the runner-up in the event with a height of 1.95m, just .05m off his PR. Mays completed the triple event in the jumps in scoring with a 7th place height of 1.85m.
Seth Cartwright rounded out the scoring in the field events in the men's shot put. Cartwright was 5th overall in the event, with his best throw landing at 13.91m.
The distance crew brought a substantial number of points to the table this week in route to the team championship. In the 4x800m relay, Campbellsville ran one of the fastest times in program history.
Dakota Brady,
Noah Rogers,
Lukas Smithson, and
Alexander Steen split a time of 7:52.74 with an average of 1:58 low's all around.
Shawn Little completed what's known in collegiate track and field as "the double" of the 5,000m and 10,000m. On Thursday, he was the runner-up in the 10,000m run with a time of 32:37.50. He turned around 12 hours later and earned the bronze medal and All-American spot in the 5,000m with a time of 15:26.94.
Samuel Bennett and Brady joined Little in scoring in the long-distance events. Bennett placed 8th in the 10,000m run with a time of 34:10.20, and Brady was 5th in the 5,000m run in 16:04.67. L. Smithson was the runner-up in the men's 3,000m steeplechase for the 2nd year in a row. Smithson broke the ten-minute barrier for the second time this week with his time of 9:56.73. Brother
Myles Smithson was 8th, earning one point with his time of 10:20.49.
Maikyah Stowe was the feature on the sprints side of the track this week. Stowe earned four All-American honors. In his primary event of the 400m, he placed 3rd with a new school record time of 48.63. In the 200m, he was joined by teammate
Campbell Rawlings earning All-American honors. Stowe was the runner-up in 21.72, while Rawlings placed 3rd overall in 21.75.
Stowe was part of both the 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams. In the 4x100m, Stowe,
Darionta Bell, Rawlings, and Harrell placed 2nd with a time of 41.50. That time is .16 seconds off, tying the school record set earlier this season. In the 4x400m relay, Stowe,
Zachary Phelps,
Miah Chatmond, and Bell punched their ticket to the NAIA National Championship in two weeks with a new school record and NAIA B Standard time of 3:17.64. The previous record has stood since 2019 by Edwin Ford Jr., Jaron Jackson,
Sam Kiser, and Jordan Thomas of 3:20.25.
Rawlings and Bell rounded out the sprints scoring in the 100m. Rawlings was .02 off his season best in the event of 10.71, placing 4th, and Bell came in 7th at 10.95. Carr and
Ishan Cooper gave Campbellsville key points in both the 110m and 400m hurdles. Cooper was the runner-up in the 110m breaking the 15-second barrier in 14.99, while Carr was 3rd in 15.78. Carr placed 4th overall in the 400m hurdles in 57.54, and Cooper gave Campbellsville two points in 7th at 57.82.
Cainan Daniels competed in the multi-event decathlon. The decathlon has athletes compete in ten different track and field events over a two-day period. Daniels placed 3rd overall with 4,721 points. He set the school record for the event in the discus with a throw of 31.31m and the pole vault with a height of 3.45m.
Head Coach Mark Miller earned the NCCAA Coach of the Year Award to go with his teams National Championship
Campbellsville will now turn full focus to the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in two weeks. The National Championship this year moves to Marian, Indiana, hosted by Indiana Wesleyan. The meet will run through May 24.26.
