Link to Full Men's Results
mcmurrysports.com/photo_gallery.aspx

BEREA, Ohio – The No. 1-ranked McMurry University men's track team finished eighth Saturday after the three-day NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships concluded on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College.

McMurry's 4X100-meter relay team finished fourth, the 4X400-meter relay team finished sixth while Kevin Cunningham placed fourth and Terry Smith finished eighth in the 400-meter hurdles during Saturday's final events to give the team a cumulative total of 20.5 points.

After eight-straight weeks beginning with the inaugural poll in April, McMurry was voted the No. 1-ranked team in the nation by the USTFCCCA headed into this weekend's meet. Though, the team dropped to eighth, head coach Barbara Crousen was still pleased with the effort.

“Sometimes you have a disappointing feeling, but by the same token you reflect back on it and see that the competition is really tough,” she said. “The kids came out and did the best they could do this weekend.”

Thomas Dimitri and Cory Altenberg, both men's pole vaulters, were the only seniors at the meet, and nine underclassmen received all-America status for their performances.

“I want them to leave here with a positive feeling, and that's what I want to do: leave with a positive feeling and go strive to come back here next year and make a mark,” said Crousen. “You always want to come and win a national title, that's never a goal you're going to quit having. But, you don't want to leave a national championship and feel like you've been defeated, because you were here.”

In McMurry's first event Saturday, Kenneth Turner, Trevon Odom, Gavan Bass and Josh Zu-Bolton clocked a time of 41.38 seconds in the 4X100-meter relay race finishing behind Wheaton College's championship time of 40.77 seconds.

Then, Stryker Pena competed in the high jump for McMurry, cleared his first height of six feet and six inches. However, Pena failed to advance past the initial height and was left out of the top eight putting pressure on the men's team with its last two events to score high in order to reach head coach Barbara Crousen's goal to finish in the top four.

So, Cunningham came up with five points and Smith one in the 400-meter hurdles race. Cunningham posted a time of 52.36 seconds behind Salisbury's first-place time of 51.19 and Smith ran a time of 54.58 seconds.

With the final event of the entire national meet being the 4X400-meter relay race. McMurry needed a national title in the event and in addition, would need Wisconsin-La Crosse to finish in seventh or eighth place in order to crack in the top four and bring home the program's fourth-straight team trophy.

However, McMurry's Cunningham, Smith, Marcus Thompson and Kolby Barnhill finished sixth with a time of 3:14.33 behind Wheaton's winning mark of 3:11.73.

All in all though, it was another successful track season for McMurry. On paper, it was the eighth-best team in the NCAA Division III and 10 more all-America awards were handed out to McMurry's men and Breana Anderson-Burton will carry home all-America status in the women's long jump.

“She's been here three times and she struggled through ankle problems all year and so I'm really pleased with how she came out and competed,” said Crousen of her lone female honoree.

Cunningham and Smith were this season's only multiple all-America winners for McMurry in the 4X400-meter relay and 400-meter hurdles. Stephen Toler and Thomas Dimitri earned the recognition Thursday in the pole vault. Turner, Odom, Bass and Zu-Bolton earned the honors for their performance in the 4X100-meter relay while Thompson and Barnhill joined Smith and Cunningham as all-Americans in the 4X400-meter relay.

North Central College dominated the men's meet and won the national championship with 52 points. On the women's side, Illinois Wesleyan took the title with 54 points, while fellow American Southwest Conference opponent, Texas Lutheran took 27th place. Officially, Anderson-Burton's three points scored in the long jump put McMurry's women in a tie for 54th place.