Mitchell, S.D. –
Three Tigers are getting prepped to head to Brookings, S.D. for the 2024 NAIA National Trac& Field Championships. Abby Magnuson, Hunter Shanks, and Caleb Sayler all automatically qualified by hitting marks set by the NAIA.
Abby Magnuson hadn't competed in indoor track until this season and dominated early on. In her first meet of the season, she blew the old DWU record away. That was just the start as Abby would throw in five more meets. She broke her own record two more times, the last time being at the DWU Alumni Meet, where she threw her personal best, 14.97m (49' 1.5"). She claimed the title at the GPAC Championship in the shot put, the first women's shot-put champion in DWU history. Abby currently sits 2nd in the nation in the women's shot-put.
Hunter Shanks has been lighting the track up all season, breaking three school records in three different races and hitting qualifying marks in all three. In the first meet of the season, Shanks broke the 800m record and hit the "B" standard in that race. Two meets later, Shanks rebroke the 800m record and hit the "A" standard for the National Championship. To prepare for the championship race, Shanks switched it up and ran the 1000m at the USD Alumni meet. In that race, Hunter finished in 3rd place, broke the school record, and hit the "A" standard for that race. In the final track meet before the conference championship, Hunter switched to the 600m race and broke his third school record of the season and qualified for the national meet in that race as well. Hunter is currently 3rd in the nation in the men's 800m.
Caleb Sayler is the third Tiger that has qualified for the national championship meet at SDSU. After racing in every single long-distance race at least once this season, Caleb paced himself with the fourth best times in the 3k and 5k, fifth in the mile, and ninth in the 1k in the region. He came within tenths of a second in a handful of races of the national "B" standard but was unable to hit it early in the season. As the conference meet came into view, Sayler would run his fastest mile time of the season and after the conversion time, he would hit the "A" standard. Caleb currently ranks 11th in the nation in the men's 1 mile.
Head Coach Matt Rosado –
When ask about Sayler running in the 5k last year at the National Championship and what they will do differently this year in the 1-mile race: "Running the mile, we have done a really good job putting more speed together and seeing different race scenarios to be prepared for nationals. Whether the race starts slow or quick, we can hang around. We are looking to survive and advance to finals on Saturday."
Shanks has gone on a big run this year and Coach Rosado stated this "Hunter has had a phenomenal year and to this point we have exceeded the expectations we set forth coming off of the cross-country season. If we stay true to ourselves and take care of what we need to get done, we can once again exceed anything we could have thought of in November."
With this season being the first indoor season for Magnuson, Matt added this "Considering she has only competed in a handful of indoor meets, coming into nationals as number two just goes to show how hard she has worked and her determination."
The Tigers competed at SDSU facility earlier this season and when asked about it, Coach Rosado had this to say, "Going there so frequently, it's almost like a second home to us, knowing the space and the setup will help us a lot. We see some of the best athletes in the nation competing in the GPAC, so going into this meet we kind of know what to expect and how difficult the competition will be."
The Meet –
The 2024 NAIA Track & Field National Championship will be hosted at South Dakota State University. Abby and Hunter ran in a meet at SDSU earlier in the season and have a feel for the facility as they prepare for the meet and Caleb ran in the 5k at Nationals last season in this facility. Hunter and Caleb will both race on the same day in the prelims of the mile and 800m on March 1st and look to advance to the finals on March 2nd. Abby will throw on March 2nd in the morning.
Tickets are on-site, cash only for spectators.