Marian's Christian Rios Wins NAIA Discus National Championship

MARION, Ind. - For the first time at the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Marian men's track and field team has earned an NAIA National Championship, as junior thrower Christian Rios won the NAIA Discus Championship on Thursday evening. The championship is the first in the career for Rios, and is Marian's fifth national championship throw in the 2023-24 season.

Christian Rios has had one of the most dominant throwing seasons, sitting near the top of the leaderboard throughout the year in both the discus and hammer throws. On Thursday, Rios backed his title as he was one of three Crossroads League athletes to make the discus finals, as Dan Heinig of Indiana Wesleyan and teammate Isaiah Tipping each qualified for finals. For Rios, his third throw of prelims took the lead of the event, as his mark of 54.05m gave him the lead for the event.

In the finals of the discus, Rios was challenged by Heinig as his fourth throw in the event landed at 53.86m, coming within 0.2m of Rios. The Marian product was able to hold on through the remaining two throws, and prevailed to the win, as Rios earned the NAIA Championship in discus once his final toss landed. 

Isaiah Tipping finished third in the event to earn his second NAIA All-American award of the week, as he finished third in the hammer throw on Wednesday. Rios was the national runner-up in the hammer on Wednesday, helping score major points for Marian's team score. Rios and Tipping have combined to earn 30 points for Marian this week, while their national runner-up honor in the men's 4x800m relay scored eight more to give the team total 38 points.

Marian is the national leader at the NAIA Championships after two days of competition, and on Friday will look to score even more as they compete in the 4x400m relay finals, along with the shot put and pole vault.

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