Former Cuyamaca Athlete, Christie, Sets National Record at NAIA Championships

March 9, 2015

By Zach Shore, NAIA Media Coordinator

GENEVA, Ohio - (Complete results) For the second consecutive year the men's 3,000-meter race walk national record fell and 11 events saw champions crowned on the second day of the 2015 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships at the SPIRE Institute on Friday. Among the highlights was the record-setting performance of Missouri Baptist's Nick Christie in the race walk and Oklahoma Baptist repeating as champion in both the men's and women's 4x800m relays (anchor leg pictured).

Just six days after winning the 2-mile race walk at the USA Track and Field Indoor National Championships, Christie, a senior, won his second men's NAIA 3000 meter race walk national championship in three years. His first-place time of 11:46.20 shattered the previous mark set one-year ago by Cornerstone's (Mich.) Cody Risch (11:57.96). In the women's race, Missouri Baptist flexed their muscle in the race walk, claiming the top three spots, led by repeat champion, Molly Josephs (14:19.42) who became the fourth back-to-back winner in NAIA history.

The conclusion of the men's heptathlon saw Doane (Neb.) junior, Kale Wolken, repeat as national champion, winning three of the seven events while placing in the top-5 in six of seven for 5,330 total points. Two other individuals repeated as national champions as Davenport's (Mich.) Tori Brooks claimed the men's high jump crown with a height of 2.16m (7-1) and Eastern Oregon junior, Talitha Fagen took home the top spot in the women's pole vault, clearing 3.88m (12-8.75).

Four other field events saw first time winners. Both the men's and women's weight throw crowned national champions with junior Joshua Slechta of Concordia (Neb.) winning the men's section with a throw of 18.15m (63-10.25) while another junior, Kasey Renshaw of Siena Heights won the women's event with a toss of 19.46m (59-6.75). The long jump also handed out men's and women's crowns as Oklahoma Baptist's Elizabeth Dadzie gave the Bison their third straight women's title, jumping 5.82m (19-1.25). On the men's side, Indiana Tech claimed the top two spots on the podium with sophomore Alain Dixon winning the event with a jump of 7.37m (24-2.25).

In the final event of the day on the track, Oklahoma Baptist swept the 4x800 meter relays as both the men and women repeated as national champions. The men's team of Travis Hinton, Jywane Allen, Ayoub Akil and Clay Shepperson bested second-place Indiana Tech by five seconds, crossing the line in 7:33.97 while the women (Halie Herbert, Shimoya Currie, Katelyn Fritz, Hannah Fields) won by 10 seconds over Benedictine (Kan.), finishing in 9:02.28.

Semifinals were held in 18 track events in preparation for Saturday's finals and unlike last season, when six of the eight women's semifinals were won by the defending champion, only won event in the 2015 field has a 2014 champion ahead of the field and that is Hans Roelle who holds the top time in the men's 1000 meter run.

Heading into the final day of competition, Missouri Baptist's women hold a three-point lead over second place Doane and defending national champion Oklahoma Baptist. Missouri Baptist has totaled 24 points through six events while Doane (21) and Oklahoma Baptist (21) are one of six schools with at least 15 points. On the men's side, 2014 champion Indiana Tech is tied with Concordia (Neb.) atop the leaderboard, just two points ahead of second-place Doane (Neb.). Indiana Tech and Concordia each have tallied 26 points through six events while Doane has 24 and is eight points clear of Missouri Baptist (16).

The 2015 NAIA Indoor National Championships will conclude with all final events on Saturday beginning with the women's triple jump and shot put at 10 a.m. EST. Championship ceremonies will be held at noon with track finals starting at 12:25 p.m. with the women's mile. The awards ceremony will be conducted at approximately 4:30 p.m.

All of the national championship action will be video-streamed live on NAIANetwork.com, the NAIA's official video-streaming platform provided by Stretch Internet. Fans can catch all the action for a subscription fee. For more information, click here.

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Records broken during 2015 NAIA National Championships