Marion, Ind. - The Marian men's track and field team opened up the Crossroads League Championship with a dominating relay effort that broke the NAIA National Record. The Knights finish day one in first place overall leading by over 60 points.

After one day of action the Knights currently hold the first place spot with 120 points over all. Indiana Wesleyan comes in behind Marian with 51 points while Mount Vernon rounds out the top three with 30 points. Taylor holds in fourth while Bethel, Spring Arbor, and Saint Francis round out the top-five in a three way tie. Goshen, Grace, and Huntington round out the rest of the placements after day one. 

On the track, Clark Chustz started the day with a second place finish earning eight points in the 10,000m with a time of 32:58.26 finishing only 13 seconds behind Flora from Indiana Wesleyan. After Chustz got on the board for the Knights, Michael Starks, Emory McClellan, and Micah Williams competed in the preliminaries of the 110m Hurdles. Starks recorded a time of 16.07 finishing 16th, McClellan finished in 12th with a time of 15.80, and Williams finished in 10th with a time of 15.69. Caleb Carter also competed in the hurdles finishing seventh and moving on to finals tomorrow with a time of 15.44. 

In more prelims action Jeremiah Brown, Will Osafo, Ricardo Mateo, and Olivier Lifrange all competed in the 100m preliminaries qualifiying for finals tomorrow. Lifrange finished in fifth with a time of 10.50, while Mateo finished in fourth with a time of 10.41 to record and NAIA B Standard. Osafo was the next to finsh recording a third place seed with a time of 10.40 to earn an NAIA B Standard. Brown led the way finishing in first with a time of 10.30 to earn an NAIA A Standard.

The Knights struck big in the 4x800m relay finishing in first with a time of 7:24.50. Marian's team consisting of Rick Williams, Tristan Trevino, Benjamin Riehle, and Mason Piatt not only recorded an NAIA A Standard in their first attempt at the event of the season, but also set a national record, breaking the former top NAIA time set by Azusa Pacific in 2004. Azusa Pacific's time at the 2004 NAIA Championships was a 7:26.13, with Marian beating out the time by over 1.5 seconds. 

Marian's dominant time won the event by 6.62 seconds over Indiana Wesleyan, as the Wildcats also hit an A standard time in their run. Marian's efforts also shattered the former league meet record, which was set by Spring Arbor in 2023. The league record for Marian shaved 5.51 seconds off the former SAU record. Lastly, Marian broke their own school record by 4.08 seconds, topping the mark they set at last year's NAIA National Championship.

Lifrange, Brown, Eric Materna, and Eli Givens wrapped up the action on the track with qualifying marks in the 200m preliminaries all qualifying for finals tomorrow. Givens finished in ninth with a time of 21.25 while Materna finished in seventh with a time of 21.09 to earn an NAIA B Standard. Brown finished in fourth with a time of 21.01 to record an NAIA B Standard while Lifrange led the way for the Knights with a time of 20.88 to earn the NAIA A Standard and record the third seed for tomorrow.

In the field Gunner Kovach, Victor Dailey, Van Lian, and Jordan Pohl each recorded points for the Knights in the High Jump. Pohl finished in fifth with a mark of 1.86m to record four points while, Lian finished just above in fourth with a mark of 1.91m earning five points. Dailey was named All-Crossroads League with his second place finish recording eight points with a mark of 2.01m. Kovach led the way with his Crossroads League Champion efforts earning 10 points with a 2.06m mark and the NAIA B Standard. Robert Nabieu, Armarion Sanders, Marko Brajovic, and Armani Glass all recorded points for Marian in the Long Jump with, Nabieu recording two points earning a seventh place finish with a mark of 6.46m. Sanders, Brajovic, and Glass each earned All-Crossroads League honors with, Sanders hitting a mark of 6.85m, Brajovic recording a mark of 7.15m, and Glass leading the way with a mark of 7.30m to earn a NAIA B Standard. 

On the throwing side Markevious Keys, Darian Dixon, Javian Jones, and Christian Rios all placed in the shot put with Keys earning seventh place with a mark of 13.96m and Dixon finished in fifth with a mark of 14.18m. Jones earned All-Crossroads League honors with his second place finish with a mark of 15.92m. Rios led the way earning an NAIA A Standard with his first place Crossroads League Championship with a mark of 16.83m. Keys, Dixon, Brady Betustak, and Rios all competed in the Discus to wrap up their day. Keys finished in ninth with a mark of 41.34m while Dixon finished in fourth with a mark of 45.09m. Betustak earned All-Crossroads League honors with a third place finish and a mark of 46.05m. Rios led the way with another NAIA A Standard finishing first overall with a mark of 52.59m.

Jake Grangier, Peyton Doty, Brenden Endres, and Brennan LaBelle competed in the Pole Vault. Grangier recorded no mark, while Doty finished in 12th with a mark of 3.60m. Endres finished in 11th with a mark of 3.90m. LaBelle led the way for Marian finishing in 6th with a mark of 4.35m. In the Decathlon Felipe Mentz currently leads the way with 3385 points while Michael Runions holds fourth place with 3066, and Doty holds on to eighth with 2172 points.

The Knights will be back in action tomorrow hoping to earn another Crossroads League Outdoor Championship.

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