RESULTS

MYRTLE BEACH, SC - What a finish! The Bethel Royals place 3rd as a team at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships, scoring 43 team points as the 4x400m relay team earns a national title! This is the highest NCAA team finish by Bethel University in any sport. The national title by the 4x400m relay is the 1st ever for any Bethel men's track and field event.

Before the final race of the evening - the 4x400m relay - the Royals were in 5th place, 1 point behind Wartburg and 5 points behind Rowan. Wartburg had no team in the 4x4, but Rowan had a strong squad to end the night. Grant Nelson led off with a phenomenal first leg, splitting 46.93 and putting the Royals neck-and-neck with UW-LaCrosse as Josh Sampson cut in on leg 2. Sampson handed off to Joel Smith in 2nd place after splitting 47.41 seconds. Smith sat on UW-Lacrosse's Caden Pearce throughout his leg, splitting 47.51 seconds as Bethel was down 2 meters to LaCrosse at the final exchange. Jacob Parent calmly closed the gap in the first 200m, then made his move with 90 meters to go to pass Chase Doornick of LaCrosse. Parent's strength in the final stretch moved the Royals into the lead for good, as they won in 3:07.90. UW-LaCrosse was 2nd in 3:08.57. Parent had the best split of the entire field, bringing home the national title in 45.91 seconds. Rowan finished 4th, which gave them 5 team points, as Bethel and Rowan tied for 3rd in the team standings at 43 points.

The Royals had amazing performances all Saturday long, starting with the 4x100m relay. Landen Liu, Grant Nelson, Cameron McConnell, and Jacob Parent took 2nd place as they got the baton safely through all the passes, and running a program record 40.24 seconds, behind UW-LaCrosse's meet record, and edging out UW-Oshkosh by a mere 0.06 seconds. The Royals earned 8 team points.

A lightning delay postponed competition for 3 hours just before the high hurdle races. Jayson Ekiyor managed the delay well, shot out of the blocks and ran his way into 4th place, with his time of 14.18 seconds, giving Bethel 5 team points.

Landen Liu was up next for the Royals in the 100m dash. Liu ran stride-for-stride in 2nd place with UW-Oshkosh's Davien Williams, and ending in 3rd place with a time of 10.50 in an incredibly tight race. 2nd through 8th place was separated by 0.16 seconds. Liu gave Bethel 6 team points.

Joel Smith raced in the final of the 400H - in event he has earned 3 All-American awards in throughout his career thus far. Smith ran even with Dubuque's JoJo Frost through 300m of the race, but Frost pulled away over the final hurdle as Smith finished in 2nd place with a time of 51.55 seconds. Smith gave Bethel 8 important team points.

Minutes later, Jacob Parent got out strong in the 200m dash as he battled both the 100m national champion and 400m national champion. Parent ended in 3rd place with a time of 21.05 seconds, giving the Royals 6 more team points. 

Kelsie Sealock's illustrious career was capped by 2 more All-American awards, bringing her career total to 13. Sealock was setting her blocks when the weather delay was announced. However, Sealock's experience helped her to deal with the change in schedule. Sealock used a solid start to propel her to a 3rd place finish, running 13.84 seconds, tying her wind legal personal best. Sealock also earned 8th place in the 400H. After a busy weekend, and a time of 60.81 in the preliminary round and a 4x400m relay leg, Sealock ran 62.97 seconds in the final.