Benjamin's Second National Championship Leads Marian at NAIA Championships
Brookings, S.D. - For the second consecutive day Marian women's track and field senior Arriana Benjamin headlined the ladies efforts at the NAIA National Championships, as the senior earned her second national championship in as many days by winning the shot put on Saturday. In addition to Benjamin's championship, Gina Butz and Taylor Thomas also earned NAIA All-American honors, helping Marian to a top-10 finish in 2024.
Arriana Benjamin returned to center stage on Saturday for Marian, hitting the throwing pit for the second consecutive day after winning her NAIA Championship in the weight throw on Friday. Benjamin pushed through to the finals with the ninth-best distance in the field with a distance of 13.87m, and through her first two attempts in the finals held on to ninth place entering the final throw. On the last attempt, Benjamin gave her career-best effort with a mark of 14.97m, leaping the field to jump into first place.
Benjamin's new Marian record distance gave her the third NAIA Championship in her career, and the second in as many days. Benjamin's national championship is also the second in her career in the shot put event.
In the 600m finals, Taylor Thomas clocked a time of 1:36.43 to earn an individual All-American honor, placing eighth in the finals to earn her second podium finish of the weekend.
Marian's final event of the weekend would be the high jump, where Gina Butz led Marian by tying the school indoor high jump record in her third place All-American finish. Butz cleared a height of 1.74m to tie herself with Erin Oleksak for the all-time indoor record, hitting the height on her third attempt to place third in the nation. Butz attempted to pass the bar at 1.77m, but was unsuccessful in her attempt to continue the event, closing in third place to score six points for the team. Brooke Coffman also competed in the high jump, finishing 16th overall clearing 1.60m.
Benjamin's 20 points led Marian, with Butz and Thomas combining for seven points to the team score on Saturday. Marian had an additional four points from the 4x800m relay team's efforts on Friday, ending the meet with a total of 31 which placed Marian eighth overall in the nation. Marian scored the most points in the meet out of any Crossroads League team at the championships with their eighth place finish.
Marian will now set their sights on outdoor track season, which will begin on March 16.
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