For Immediate Release Contact: Richard Martin, Communications Coordinator (rmartin@thenccaa.org)

CEDARVILLE, Ohio. - Malone University won their first NCCAA Men's Indoor Track & Field National Championship in school history, winning the title on Saturday, February 14.

The Pioneers scored 158 points, beating out Bethel University who finished second at 85 points, while Cedarville University finished third with 84 points. Malone took home gold medals in the 60-meter dash, mile run, 800-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 3000-meter run, DMR, and 4x200 meter relay, silver in the 60-meter hurdles, 800-meter dash, 3000-meter run, long jump, and 5000-meter run, and bronze in the mile run, and shot put.

Phil Stupka of Malone University was named Men's Track Athlete of the Meet, while Cameron Montgomery of Columbia International University was named Men's Field Athlete of the Meet. Malone University earned Coaching Staff of the Year. A full list of award winners and All-Americans from the 2026 Men's Indoor Track & Field National Championship can be found here.

Track Highlights:

• Mid-America Christian University earned their first ever gold medal at the NCCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, winning the 4x800 meter relay championship by just under three seconds, as the quartet of Chase Cotarello, Collin Seely, Jonathan Availa, and Lucky Maila finished first with a time of 8:07.77. Cedarville's group of Levi Thompson, Josiah Knoerr, Ben Roth, and Jack Major beat out conference foe Malone University by 0.94 seconds to earn second with a time of 8:10.00.
• Phil Stupka added to his trophy case from this weekend, as the 2026 John and Jody Wheeler Award winner from Malone took home first place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.82 seconds, just beating out Bethel's Lamarr Williams, who finished second at 6.85 seconds. His Pilot teammate James Gill took home third with a time of 6.87 seconds.
• Schavon Carr clinched gold for Campbellsville University in the 60-meter hurdles, beating out Otani Ekpe of Malone by just 0.06 seconds, as his time of 8.17 seconds gave him the win. His Tiger teammate Mouhamed Pouye finished third with a time of 8.38 seconds.
• Malone picked up two more medals in the mile run, as Hayden Schmidt finished first in the event with a time of 4:19.48, while fellow Pioneer Xander Heil finished in third with a time of 4:21.97. Camden Johnecheck finished second with a time of 4:21.04.
• Case Drum picked up a gold medal in the 400-meter dash for Wayland Baptist University, winning the race in 49.27 seconds. William Stark from Bob Jones University was the only other runner to finish the race in under 50 seconds, taking the silver medal with a time of 49.71 seconds, beating out Manny Dut from Asbury, who finished third with a time of 50.52 seconds.
• Malone finished first and second in the 800-meter run, as Tyler Twining took home the gold with a time of 1:57.10, while his Pioneer pal Brylan Holland finished second with a time of 1:57.56. Will Patzia from Greenville University prevented the clean sweep for Malone, just beating out Eric Dehmer to finish third with a time of 1:58.39.
• Stupka continued to rake in gold for Malone, beating out Malachi Weatherly of Southwestern Christian University by just 0.02 seconds in the 200-meter run, winning his second race of the day with a time of 22.00 seconds. Williams from Bethel picked up another medal for his count as well, finishing third with a time of 22.08 seconds.
• Schmidt picked up another gold medal later in the day, as him and teammate Yahya Jawadi finished first and second in the 3000-meter run, with Schmidt winning gold with a time of 8:45.18, while Jawadi finished second at 8:45.48. Martin Betel from Campbellsville finished third at 8:46.11.
• In a tight race, Bethel University's quartet of Noah Jarvis, Lamarr Williams, Joshua Harmon, and Jace Woods won the 4x100 meter run with a time of 3:24.32, just beating out Wayland Baptist who finished second at 3:26.55, and Southwestern Christian who finished third at 3:26.82.

Field Highlights:

• In a tight battle in the long jump, Brandon Clark from Nelson University took home first place in the event with a distance of 6.77 meters. Bryant Thompson from Malone University just edged out Neo Khanye for second place, as Thompson's jump of 6.71 meters beat out Khanye's jump of 6.70 meters.
• Joey Rutten from Bethel and Nelson's Jaxon Salzman battled it out in the pole vault, with both men clearing 4.25 meters. However, Rutten cleared 4.10 meters in just one attempt, while Salzman needed a pair of attempts to clear the bar, giving Rutten gold and Salzman the silver. Matthew Wilson from Asbury took third after clearing 3.80 meters on his first attempt.
• Cameron Montgomery earned his second All-American honor of the weekend, as the Columbia International thrower won the shot put title with a toss of 16.01 meters. Marcus Bell from Campbellsville finished second at 15.58 meters, while Malone's Gavin Tribelo finished third with his toss of 15.26 meters, as he top three finishers were the lone throwers to clear 15 meters.
• A pair of Panther partners earned medals in the triple jump, as Keenan Powell from Greenville University just beat out Nelson's Clark to win the gold, finishing with a distance of 14.96 meters, compared to Clark's second place jump of 14.86 meters. Leonard Bratton from Greenville also earned a medal, finishing third with a distance of 14.28 meters.

Heptathlon Highlights:

• Jack Jewett continued to stay on top in the Heptathlon standings to open Saturday's action, as the Bethel Pilot was the lone runner in the 60-meter hurdles to finish the race in under nine seconds, winning the event in 8.98 seconds. Josiah Wentrcek of Nelson University finished second with a time of 9.05 seconds.
• In the pole vault, Jewett's Bethel teammate Christopher Korthuis took home the win by 0.20 meters, clearing 3.95 meters to earn the event win. Columbia International University's Hunter McCaskill took second with a clearance of 3.75 meters, while Jewett cleared 3.55 meters to finish third, clinching the top two spots for the Pilots in the overall standings.
• Hudson Woods from Nelson took home first in the 1000-meter run with a time of 3:03.13, edging out McCaskill by just over five seconds. Despite the event win for Woods, McCaskill just held him off for third place in the overall event, as McCaskill finished with 3883 points, while Woods fell short by just 42 points, finishing with 3841.
• Korthuis finished first in the overall heptathlon event with 4336, while his teammate Jewett finished second with 4291 points.

Full results from the 2026 NCCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships can be found here.