Live Results
Thursday's Results (PDF)
ALLENDALE, Mich. – Day one of the 2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships did not disappoint as a pair of Great Midwest Athletic Conference student-athletes established themselves as the best in their respective events.
Twenty-nine qualifiers from the Great Midwest are looking to make their mark over the next three days on the campus of host Grand Valley State.
Findlay’s Austin Combs destroyed his own conference record and the NCAA DII Championships record in the weight throw as the Oilers had two of the top three place winners on Thursday. Combs’ sixth attempt from the cage went 71.99m (236’ 2”) while teammate Sterling Mungro took his place at the podium with a third-place performance and a distance of 69.54m.
Combs is also the fourth throws national champion from the conference in as many years continuing the trend set by Malone’s Duke Taylor (2017), Walsh’s Marcus Myers (2018) and Findlay’s Eldred Henry (2019).
Looking ahead to when Ashland joins the league as a member officially on July 1, the Great Midwest and Ashland accounted for four of the top eight individuals as Alex Hill and Brent Fairbanks also earned All-American status.
Combs was previously a hammer throw All-American in 2019. He was co-Field Athlete of the Meet at the Great Midwest Championships in Owensboro, Ky., earlier this month. Combs has helped Findlay out to a share of the team lead through three men’s events scored with 15 total team points. It also ranks as the fourth longest toss in Division II overall history regardless of meet format.
In the jumps pit, Tiffin’s Cameron Burrows stole the show against a field of 13 other competitors to claim a national title in the long jump. Prior to this year, you could make a case the long jump isn’t even his best event based on his All-American campaign in 2019 in the high jump.
But Burrows on the fourth attempt, recorded a new conference record distance of 7.74m (25’ 4.75”) to bring home top honors for the Dragons. He bested his previous conference record of 7.55m set back on April 16 by a significant margin.
Burrows is the first conference champion in the long jump and just the second All-American (Tiffin’s Quincy Scott in 2019). He also hit 7.73m in his final attempt on the runway.
Tiffin’s Lenell Shelby III was a two-event NCAA qualifier in 2019 wearing the orange uniform at Findlay. In Thursday’s 400-meter hurdles prelims, he earned a spot in the finals with a time of 52.90 seconds. Another TU standout, Outdoor Field Athlete of the Meet Rajiah Andrews, posted the fastest prelim time in the 100-meter dash in 11.57 seconds. She is one of nine qualifiers headed to the finals in that event.
In other women's first-day action, three different Findlay pole vaulters staked claim to All-American status. Senior conference record holder Savannah Amato was the top finisher at sixth place as she cleared over 4.05m. Lindsey Kluesener and Morgan England each skied over 3.80m to share a tie for 11th in the field.
Malone’s Hannah Thompson ended the night with a 14th-place performance in the 10K. She ran the track in a time of 35:21.80.