Niehaus, Taylor and Tripp Collect All-American Honors at NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships

Published: April 13, 2021

WAVERLY, Iowa - For the sixth year in a row the Greenville College Panthers have been represented at the NCAA Division III track and field national championship. This year, like years past, yielded some positive results as the team claimed three All-American awards (top eight finish). The men tallied eight total points and tied for 28th place out of 71 scoring teams. The women tied for 44th place out of 76 scoring teams with five points.Shontia Chester and Christina Niehaus competed for the women in the first trip for either athlete to the national championship. Niehaus competed in the disc throw and was not intimidated by her first appearance at the big meet. After throwing a personal best in her preliminary flight, Niehaus headed into finals sitting third overall. In finals, one thrower overtook her, as she was unable to improve upon her earlier mark of 142 feet, 7 inches. In the end, Niehaus wound up fourth, a finish that garnered five points for the women's team. Chester contested in the 400 meter dash. She entered the meet as the last athlete accepted into the competition with her 57.44 seconds qualifying effort. In the second of three preliminary heats, Shontia ran a very respectable 57.66 seconds, placing sixth in her heat. When all times from the preliminaries were in, Shontia ended up besting six athletes and finishing 13th in the country.Jarod Renford, Brandon Tripp, Josh Westray, Ryan Garnett and Bryson Taylor competed for the men, a solid grouping of championship rookies and veterans. Renford, Tripp, Westray, and Garnett raced the 4x100 meter relay. In a blazing fast heat, the men placed fourth, running their second fastest time ever of 41.18 seconds. After all preliminary heats were run, the relay was ranked ninth, the first team not in the finals. After a quick survey of recent championship meet results, it was found that the team's time would have advanced to the finals at those national meets. The men's time ranks as one of the fastest times ever to not qualify for the championship finals in the 400 meter relay.Garnett was the first individual to compete for the Panthers. In addition to the 4x100 meter relay, Garnett qualified in the long jump. He finished 16th out of 19 competitors with his 22 feet, 1.75 inches effort.Tripp contested the open 100 and 200 meter dashes. In the 200, Tripp faded over the final 100 meters to finish sixth in his heat, not advancing to the finals. However, in the 100, Tripp ran strong (10.76 seconds), placing second in his heat and earning a spot in lane one for the finals. In the finals, he competed well and was edged at the line by several runners to finish seventh overall. This finish earned Brandon his first All-American honor in the 100 meter dash.Taylor was the men's other individual qualifier. Taylor contested the triple jump and entered competition ranked fourth in the country. On his final jump in the preliminary flight, he bounded out to 48 feet, 8.75 inches to take the lead in the competition. This sparked his competitors as two others in the same flight produced farther jumps on their final attempts. Heading into finals, Taylor was ranked fourth. Again on a final jump effort, he produced a monstrous mark of 48-11 and moved up to third place. Bryson had three marks in competition that bettered his own school record. His final jump of 48-11 now stands as the school standard.This year's athlete count of seven ranks as the most the Greenville track and field program has brought to the national championship. Additionally for the season, the men had a total of 14 athletes reach national qualifying marks in nine events. For the women, seven athletes qualified in four events. The 2005 season is evidence that the Greenville College track and field program continues to be competitive at the NCAA Division III level.