GULF SHORES, Ala. – The final day of the NAIA Track and Field National Championships yielded three NAIA All-America performances for the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes as the National Championships wrapped up at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium on Friday.
The Coyotes got three fifth place finishes on Friday to earn All-America in three different events.
The morning started well as Stephanie Martinez (SR/Horizon City, Texas) finished fifth in the women's half marathon, with a time of 1:27:29, earning her first NAIA All-America honor of her career.
Next it was Kalil Murphy (FR/Hollywood, Fla.) in the triple jump. He posted a school record mark of 15.02m on his third jump of the day to finish in fifth, just edging out Juba McClay from Hastings for the Top-5 finish.
Tabetha Deines (SR/Salina) then capped her illustrious KWU running career with a fourth NAIA All-America honor, finishing fifth in the 800m with a time of 2:13.99, just edging out Sydney Little Light by 8-hundredths of a second. Deines reached the finals by earning the final qualifying spot in the preliminaries on Thursday.
Cole Parker (JR/Corning, Calif.) finished 16th in the javelin on the first day of the Championships for the Coyotes with a mark of 56.60m.
KWU's 4x100m relay team of Eryk Kyser (SO/Caney), Eugene Dixon (SR/Plymouth, Minn.), Nigel Davis (SR/Los Angeles, Calif.) and Kalil Murphy finished 35th in the preliminaries of the event with a time of 42.42 seconds.
Austin Hess (SO/Garden City) placed 46th in the men's half marathon for the Coyotes with a time of 1:19:18.
In the final team standings, the Coyote women finished tied for 31st out of the 71 teams that scored at the Championships and the 117 teams that were represented. The men finished tied for 62nd out of the 77 teams that scored in the meet and the 111 teams that had student-athletes participate in the meet.