Final Results
ALLENDALE, Mich. – Great Midwest Athletic Conference student-athletes gave it their all and left nothing to chance as the 2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Grand Valley State wrapped up on Saturday.
A total of 14 different student-athletes received hardware for finishing in the top 8 of their individual event or relay, cementing outdoor NCAA All-American status as a key moment to close out the season.
In the team scoring, Tiffin secured a top 10 finish with a total of 32 points and Findlay was tied for 15th with 16 points. The Tiffin women tied for 13th among all programs with a total of 19 points scored through the three-day meet.
Combined, Tiffin had eight different All-American performances on Saturday, including national runner-up efforts by throws standout Nikolas Curtiss in the shot put and Marisa Gwinner in the high jump.
Curtiss recorded a distance 19.14m (62’ 9.5”) to earn dual indoor/outdoor All-American recognition, both runner-up performances at nationals for the 2020-21 academic year.
Gwinner and Mercedeez Francis, who finished fifth in the high jump, gave the Dragons a pair of All-Americans in the same event and the women’s shot put was well represented for the league as Walsh’s Ndidiamaka Anaraodo placed third in the competition and Tiffin’s Nicole Berry came in seventh.
Gwinner was the 2019 outdoor national champion in the high jump and placed third at the indoor championship event in Alabama earlier in the calendar year. Gwinner cleared 1.79m to finish second and Francis skied over 1.76m, not far behind her teammate.
Anaraodo gave Walsh its second All-American of the meet following up on Alexa Leppelmeier’s fifth-place run in the 3K steeplechase. Anaraodo continued her strong postseason push after blitzing the Great Midwest overall shot put record at the conference championship meet at 16.38m.
On her fourth attempt on Saturday, Anaraodo tossed the weight for a distance of 15.46m (50’ .75”) and Berry was over 15 meters as well.
After blazing through the prelims on Friday to get to Saturday’s final heat, Tiffin’s speedsters Rajiah Andrews, Mason Plant and Lenell Shelby III, starred on the track with the best of the best in the 100-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles. Andrews finished fourth in the finals with a time of 11.98, Shelby III was sixth in 52 seconds flat and Plant crossed the line in 14.27 seconds for seventh.
Overall conference record holder Lloyd McCurdy delivered another All-American finish for Tiffin in the triple jump with a fifth-place finish. He tied his own mark of 15.35m for the second best effort in conference history; McCurdy was co-athlete of the meet in the field events at the conference championships with 2021 NCAA weight throw champion Austin Combs of Findlay.
Hillsdale also had five All-Americans to close out the championship meet, including the 4x400-meter relay of Dakota Stamm, Zalonya Eby, Alanna O’Leary and Shura Ermakov, who finished eighth with a time of 3:47.66.
Pole vaulter Ben Raffin cleared 5.00m to finish eighth in the competition and earn outdoor All-American honors. Malone’s Mackenna Curtis-Collins was additionally top 10 in the 5K while Collin Jasin (pole vault) and Ralph Casper (shot put), both of Tiffin, both competed.
The league’s coaches will now vote for the Great Midwest Outdoor Track & Field Athletes of the Year, Great Midwest Freshman of the Year and Great Midwest Coach of the Year, that will be announced later next week along with the Elite 23 Award from the outdoor season. The USTFCCCA will also announce official All-Americans next week for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field season.