(Columbia, SC) - The Men's team took 11 athletes to the NCCAA Nationals in Columbia, South Carolina at Columbia International University on Thursday, May 11, and Friday, May 12. The Men's team came away with 4 personal bests, 4 school records, and a 12th-place finish overall with 19 points, while finishing just 3 points shy of a top 10 finish and 5 points ahead of 13th place.
The meet opened with a successful day number one, as senior Kash Warren (Lorain, OH) broke the school record in the 100-meter prelims with 10.85 seconds. He then qualified in the 200-meter dash finals with a 22.04 second time in the prelims. Junior Noah Starkey (Macomb, MI) also competed in the 200-meter dash prelims, but just narrowly missed the cut by finishing in 10th place with a time of 22.28 seconds.
To cap running events on day 1, the 4x800 meter relay team of Luke Bentz (Sophomore; Fort Wayne, MI), Avery Sanchez (Senior; Allen Park, MI), Theodore Eising (Junior; Royal Oak, MI), and Zak Schroeder (Freshman; Napoleon, OH) broke the school record on their way to a 7th place finish with a total time of 8:12.68.
In throwing events on day 1, Freshman Will Hall (Freshman; Indianapolis, IN) earned a 9th-place finish in Discus with a new personal record throw of 39.95 meters.
Sophomore Scott Smith (Saginaw, MI) earned a 14th-place finish in Javelin with a throw of 41.52 meters.
On Friday, the team saw Hall and Senior Zachary Belinsky (Beulah, MI) compete in the shot put. Hall earned a 7th-place finish with a throw of 41.16 meters. While Belinsky finished in 10th place with a throw of 39.90 meters.
On the track, the 4x100 meter relay team of Starkey, Warren, Maurice Kado (Sophomore; Beachwood, OH), and Ethan Dodson (Freshman; Rochester Hills, MI) kicked the day off earning a 4th-place finish with a time of 42.74 seconds.
Warren had two finals to compete in during the day as well. Warren first competed in the 100-meter dash, where he earned a 6th-place finish with a time of 10.91 seconds. In the 200-meter dash, he missed a top-3 finish by .03 seconds. Warren ran another school record time of 21.78 seconds and finished in 4th place.
Bentz competed in the 800-meter run and gave the school record a good scare by just missing the record by less than .4 of a second. Bentz finished in 12th place with a total time of 1:58.86 seconds.
The meet was wrapped up with the 4x400 meter relay team of Starkey, Schroeder, Dodson, and Bentz, who rebroke their school record from last week by running a new time of 3:26.49 seconds.
The meet puts an end to the Men's outdoor season. The meet marked the final event of their Cardinal careers for two Cardinals as Belinsky and Warren rounded out their careers on Friday.
