Final Results
Records
KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Great Midwest Athletic Conference had a banner three-day stint at the NCAA Division II Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Javelina Stadium hosted by Texas A&M Kingsville.
The league enjoyed a new record seven national championship performances and 17 more NCAA All-American poses at the awards podium to celebrate the 2019 outdoor campaign.
A total of 25 men’s student-athletes qualified for nationals, either automatically or provisionally, with a handful entering in multiple events.
Cedarville’s sophomore aerial artist Tommy Ansiel was the first NCAA champion to be crowned from the league following his effort in the pole vault. In windy and warm conditions, Ansiel cleared 17’ 7.25” (5.37m), the second-highest mark in conference history.
In addition to Ansiel’s top marks, both Hillsdale’s Jared Schipper and Tiffin’s Davis Bowers both finished in the top eight of the competition for All-American status. Bowers came in sixth and Schipper placed eighth, respectively.
Next to take their place at the top of the throne was Tiffin junior speedster Jonte Baker in the 100-meter dash. Baker holds the unofficial title of the fastest man in Division II for the entire season after also dashing to national championship accolades in the 60-meter indoor dash.
Baker blew away his previous conference record in the straightaway race with a 10.17-second reading in the finals.
He placed second in the preliminaries with a time of 10.22 and both of his most recent times rank No. 1 and 2 in Great Midwest history.
Baker also makes the ideal anchor for the Dragons in the 4x100-meter relay and Tiffin’s quartet of Zion Cross, Elijah Gauldin, Quincy Scott and the 100m champ, blazed their way to a time of 40.58 in the finals.
With Tiffin’s national championship efforts, the Dragons finished fifth in the overall team scoring with 34.5 points. More significant points came from sophomore Nikolas Curtiss in the shot put (5 points) and Cameron Burrows in the high jump (4 points). TU edged out host TAMU-Kingsville by half a point.
Burrows also broke his previous conference record at the Great Midwest Championships with a clearance of 2.17m for fifth place.
Walsh’s Jacob Kernell, billed the Great Midwest Track Athlete of the Year by the coaches, endured a tough course to earn All-American awards in the 3K steeplechase. Kernell still had to get out of the preliminary round and finished 11th in Friday’s final with a 9:32.37.
Findlay’s Eldred Henry stole the show with another jaw-dropping exhibition in the shot put. The mammoth Oiler set another Division II record with a distance of 21.47m to complete the national title indoor/outdoor sweep.
Henry also ranks seventh in the world with his newest effort. Tiffin’s Curtiss came in fourth while promising freshman Dragon Jabari Bennett also grabbed second team All-American honors.
Findlay’s Austin Combs was the runner-up in the hammer throw, a strong event in the league with Walsh’s Marcus Myers winning a national title in 2018. Combs launched the weight 65 meters for the fourth-longest distance in conference history. He was joined in All-American status with Tiffin senior Tristen Durr, who placed eighth in his final competition.