Men's Track & Field Claims Fifth Straight NCCAA Outdoor National Championship

Published: April 13, 2021

MARION, Ind. - Another successful title defense led to a fifth straight national championship for the Greenville men's track and field team. This year's win came with the smallest margin of victory to date, but still a victory nonetheless. Greenville totaled 155 points, 15 more than second place Malone and 32 more than third place Cedarville.As with past national championship squads, the men's scoring was spread throughout the team. No fewer than 28 athletes gathered points in 18 events, plus an additional three scoring relays added to the team total. Balance in scoring and depth proved yet again to be the recipe for another national crown.The men's only two individual champions came in the team's deepest events, the 100 meter dash and the triple jump. The 100 tallied 19 points, while the triple jump netted 18.Brandon Tripp won the 100 meter dash in impressive fashion. Tripp lit up the track with his 10.43 second race. Not only was Tripp's time a personal best and school record, it also surpassed the previous national championship meet record. Tripp's record run also puts him atop the NCAA Division III leaderboard in the short dash. Lending backup in the 100 were Ryan Garnett and Jarod Renford. Garnett ran a personal record of 10.79 seconds to finish third, while Renford recorded a personal best at 11.18 for sixth.Bryson Taylor took home top honors in the triple jump with a 48 foot hop-step-jump effort, almost a foot margin of victory. Matt Schroeder (44-10) and Chris Easley were supporting cast as they finished third and seventh, respectively. Tripp also saw action in the 200 meter dash and 4x100 meter relay. Tripp finished second in the 200 with a season best time of 21.51 seconds. Renford, Garnett and Josh Westray joined Tripp in the 4x100 and combined for a second place finish in a time of 42.08 seconds, a season best.Ryan Garnett and Diondre Williams also contested the 200 meter dash. Garnett claimed third with a fast 21.81 second clocking. Williams was seventh, running 22.79 seconds.Other jumping action for the Panthers included Taylor's second place performance in the high jump. This was accomplished on a clearance of 6 feet, 7 inches. Taylor also scored a fifth place finish in the long jump (21-10.25) where he was joined by Westray (21-7.25) and Garnett (23-2.5). Westray finished sixth, while Garnett placed second overall.Hurdler Jarod Renford scored in both hurdle events. First, Renford ran a personal record of 15.07 seconds to place second in the 110 meter high hurdles. Then, in the 400 hurdles, Renford used a late race surge to place seventh, running 57.26 seconds. Renford clocked 56.89 in the preliminaries, a personal record.The mid-distance and distance events were also fruitful for the Panthers. Zach Middleton ended a three year scoring drought in the 800 meter run. Middleton ran a surprising 1:59.72 to capture sixth place. In the 1500, Beau Meredith collected the first of two third place finishes on the day. He covered the 1500 in 4:01.26.The steeplechase saw two Greenville athletes score. Josh Martsolf pulled out the second place finish in a personal record time of 9:43. Andy Thomack was not far behind in third, also running a personal record of 9:50. Doubling back in the 5000 meter run, Meredith and Martsolf ran tactical races securing points with their third and sixth place finishes.Greenville throwers were also successful in having multiple scorers. Steven Renney and Mark French finished fifth and eighth in the discus. Renney threw a personal best of 135-4. French also scored in the hammer throw. His 138-5 toss was a personal record and good enough for seventh.Nick Ivey had an impressive day in the hammer. Nick's personal record heave of 162-6 was a twelve foot improvement, and placed him second overall. Kyle Foder represented Greenville in the shot put and grabbed a point for the team with his eighth place finish.Finally adding points to the team total were Kevin Kirchner and Derek DeBarr in the Decathlon. Kirchner finished fourth, while DeBarr placed sixth. Both set personal bests for the multi event as it was their first full contention of the event. Kirchner also set a school record in the midst of the ten event carnival. He cleared 14 feet in the pole vault, bettering the old mark by six inches.The Panthers season is not over. Several athletes will continue on in hope of reaching qualifying marks for the NCAA Division III national meet in three weeks. This year's NCCAA national meet proved a fantastic springboard for the 2005 track and field postseason.