Benjamin's Weight Throw Championship Leads Marian on Second Day of NAIA Championships

Brookings, S.D. - For just the third time in Marian women's indoor track and field history, the Knights have a national champion at the NAIA Indoor Championships as Arriana Benjamin earned the women's weight throw championship on Friday. The senior headlined Marian's efforts, as she along with the 4x800m relay scored 14 points to put Marian in fifth place after two days of competition. 

The Knights first event of the day on Friday was the 600m, with Taylor Thomas, Hanna Reuter, and Claire Lange all competing. Thomas led the Knights trio with a time of 1:34.59, as her new school record time was the eighth fastest in the field. Thomas' finishing time gave her an at-large placement in the finals, as she will run for an All-American honor on Saturday. Reuter would finish 15th overall with a 1:37.38 time, and Lange finished 21st, clocking a time of 1:42.64.

In the women's 1000m, Katie Woods made her second overall appearance at the championship, and set a time of 2:56.59 seconds in her race. Woods would finish third in her heat and ninth overall, missing out on the finals by under 0.50 seconds. The sophomore's time is one of the top-three for her in the event this season.

As the track action took a lull for Marian, the field events heated up with Arriana Benjamin, Keeley Hughes, and Nhaydia Watson all competing in the weight throw. Benjamin stole the show as one of the top-ranked throwers in the field entering the competition, qualifying for the finals with her last throw in prelims, hitting a distance of 19.36m. Benjamin's mark shattered her previous school record by 0.73m, and gave her the lead entering finals. The mark of 19.36m for Benjamin would be strong enough to fend off her competition, as Kiara Anderson of Hastings came up 0.04m short of tying the Knight in the finals, allowing Benjamin to claim her second-ever NAIA National Championship.

Benjamin's title is her first in her indoor career, and her second overall, previously winning the shot put at the 2022 NAIA Outdoor National Championships. Benjamin's championship is also Marian's first at the indoor championships since Erin Oleksak's pentathlon title in 2022.

Behind Benjamin in the weight throw, Hughes would finish 23rd and Watson placed 27th.

Ending Marian's successful day was the women's 4x800m relay, who earned All-American honors with a fifth place finish in the finals. Marian clocked a time of 9:17.16 behind the team of Reuter, Thomas, Woods, and Liz Loichinger, as the quartet along with Nora Steele, who helped qualify the relay in prelims, earned NAIA All-American honors. 

Marian will end their run at the NAIA Championships with Benjamin throwing in the shot put on Saturday, along with Taylor Thomas running in the 600m finals and Gina Butz and Brooke Coffman competing in the high jump. The Knights have 14 points through their two events that they competed in finals for, and are tied with Dickinson State and Hastings. The University of the Cumberlands leads after two days, followed by Central Methodist, Indiana Tech, and Concordia.

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