Six John Brown University athletes participated in the NAIA National Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Wednesday and Thursday inside the Indiana Wesleyan Track & Field Complex in Marion, Ind.
The Golden Eagles' 4x800-meter relay team competed, along with junior Jean-Benoit Merte in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and senior Will Vail in the long jump.
On May 24, the two-mile relay team of sophomore Drew Birnbaum, sophomore Drew Janzen, senior Jadin Whiting and freshman Matthew Cooke took 21st in the overall in the preliminaries with a time of 7 minutes, 49.82 seconds.
The top nine finishes in the two-mile relay advanced to the finals.
The Spring Arbor (Mich.) team of Isaiah Romeyn, Gary Richardson, Tommee Smith and Dean Reynolds took first place overall at 7:35.62.
Also on May 24, Merte competed in the steeplechase, finishing 22nd overall with a time of 9:49.62 in the prelims. The top 14 teams advanced to the finals.
Peter Shippy of Dordt (Iowa) was the top overall finisher at 9:16.15.
On May 25, Vail recorded a jump of 7.13 meters and finished 17th overall. The top nine long jumpers advanced to the finals.
Goodness Iredia of Cumberland (Tenn.) was the overall top finisher at 7.63 meters.