Dordt University women’s track and field athletes earned All-American honors in three events on the final day of the NAIA Outdoor National Championships held in Gulf Shores, Ala.
The Defenders closed the championship with 14 points and tied Doane for 19th place in the team standings.
Emma Bakker, running in the final individual event of her brilliant career, finished third in the 400m and claimed All-American honors. Bakker crossed the finish line with a personal best 54.89, just .24 seconds off the school record, and earned the national honor for the second time in the 400m.
Bakker later anchored the 4×400 relay to a fifth place finish with a time of 3:47.29, second fastest all-time in program history. Bakker ran a 54.58 split and joined teammates Emilee Heynen, Anmarie Stuit and Mika Kooistra with the national honor.
The Defenders 4×800 relay was fifth in today’s final with a time of 9:12.17 and earned All-American honors. Relay members include Heynen, Stuit, Kooistra and Bethany Ten Haken.
Men’s Results
Three Defender individuals and one relay earned All-American honors on the final day of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships held today in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Payton Mauldin, Eric Steiger and Nic Veldhorst claimed the national honor in their respective race while the 4×800 relay team of Mauldin, Cole Zevenbergen, Trey Engen and Jeb Merkle also took home All-American accolades.
Once all 24 events were scored, Dordt finished in a three-way tie with Grace (Ind.) and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) for 10th place in the team standings with 21 points.
Running in his fourth 800m at the championships, Mauldin finished eighth in today’s final with a time of 1:54.2, just over three seconds in back of the champion, Senzo Sokhela (Westmont).
Steiger and Veldhorst were All-American in the 3000m steeplechase. In fifth place after the sixth lap, Steiger moved up three spots during his final two laps to finish as the runner-up. The senior nearly overtook the national champion, Shimales Abebe (Oklahoma City), in the final moments. Steiger finished with a school-record time of 9:04.61, less than a second in back of Abebe. Veldhorst improved his positioning during the final lap and placed sixth with a season-best time of 9:17.7. Peter Shippy, in 14th place after the fourth lap, moved up to 10th by races end (9:29.85).
Dordt’s 4×800 relay placed fourth overall with a time of 7:34.27, five seconds behind champion Indiana Wesleyan. Mauldin made things interesting by moving from fifth place into first during his opening 400m in the relay’s final carry but was unable to hold off the competition.
Joe Anderson narrowly missed out on a top-eight finish by placing ninth in the 1500m (3:55.08).
