Knights Continue Crossroads League Dominance Winning 2024 Outdoor Track and Field Championship
Crossroads League Championships Central
Marion, Ind. - For the fourth consecutive year, the Marian men's track and field program finished with a dominating victory at the Crossroads League Outdoor Championship, winning their fourth title in four years, and their ninth title in program history. The Knights finished with a score of 269, Indiana Wesleyan came in second with a score of 130.50, and Mount Vernon came in third with a score of 95. Grace, Taylor, Spring Arbor, Huntington, Bethel (Ind.), Goshen, and St. Francis finished out the team scores for the weekend.
The Knights claimed two of the top three spots in the 100m with Jeremiah Brown claiming second and Manny Manneh claiming third. Marian finished with three of the top four spots in the 200m with, Oliver Lifrange claiming second, Brown claiming third, and Eli Givens claiming fourth. Marian took all top-four places in the 400m with, Eric Materna hitting NAIA B standard with a time of 48.18 to claim first place. Givens claimed second, Lifrange claimed third, and Richard Dube claimed fourth.
Tristan Trevino set a new school record in the 800m and hit the NAIA A standard with a time of 1:50.28 to claim first place as well. Mason Piatt claimed seventh place earning two points for the Knights. Ben Moster claimed two points for the Knights finishing seventh in the 1500m. Blake Hipkiss claimed three points for the Knights finishing sixth in the 5000m.
Marian claimed two of the top-five places in the 110m hurdles with Gus Martinez finishing fourth and Caleb Carter finishing fifth. Carter also placed sixth in the 400m hurdles claiming three more points for the Knights. Robin Aguilar-Gonzalez claimed eigth place in the 3000m Steeplechase and hit NAIA B standard with a time of 9:29.59.
The team of Brown, Lifrange, Manneh, and Will Osafo in the 4x100m relay hit NAIA B standard with a time of 41.05 to claim first place in the event. The Knights claimed a new conference record in the 4x400m relay, as the team of Gideon Brimmage, Dube, Givens, and Lifrange hit NAIA A standard with a time of 3:14.66 and claimed first place in the event.
The Knights claimed all top-three positions in the triple jump, with Van Lian claiming first with a mark of 13.63, Armani Glass claiming second, and Jordan Pohl claiming third. In the hammer Marian claimed three of the top-four positions, with Isaiah Tipping claiming first and hitting the NAIA A standard with a mark of 63.97m, Christian Rios claiming second and hitting the NAIA A standard with a mark of 60.70m, and Jacob Netral claiming fourth.
In the Javelin Marian claimed two of the top eight spots with Felipe Mentz claiming fourth with a mark of 46.90m, and Brendan Oleksak claiming eighth. Mentz also claimed second place in the Decathlon with 5195 points.
Marian will send their multiple national qualifiers to the NAIA Championships in late May, and will look to add a few more members on May 8 and 9 as the Knights host a last chance meet.