Adams State relies only on scoring in five distance events, including three titles from Hyde, to capture sixth women’s indoor crown, Pittsburg State gets victories from Betts, Williams and 4x400 relay to earn third men’s championship in seven years; Roberts Wesleyan’s King clears 15-3 (4.65m) to ascend to No. 5 in collegiate indoor history

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Kylie Graham

The championship formulas for the Adams State women’s team and Pittsburg State men’s program couldn’t be more different.

But for the second year in a row, their remarkable postseason recipes resulted in both teams concluding the NCAA Division 2 Indoor Championships atop the podium.

Pittsburg State was able to celebrate at its home venue Saturday at the Robert W. Plaster Center with back-to-back men’s team titles, scoring in 10 events to prevail with 69 points to secure the third indoor championship in seven years.

Grand Valley State was second with 56.5 points, Adams State took third at 55 points and West Texas A&M achieved 37 points for fourth place.

RESULTS | KYLIE GRAHAM PHOTOS

It was no secret that Adams State was going to rely heavily on its distance standouts to deliver a second straight women’s team crown and sixth overall, and they didn’t disappoint, with Gracie Hyde winning the mile and 3,000 meters, in addition to anchoring the victorious distance medley relay for the Grizzlies, who scored enough in just five events to triumph with 67 points.

Pittsburg State made a legitimate push for its first women’s team title, capturing second with 64.5 points, with Minnesota State taking third at 54 points and Grand Valley State finishing fourth with 48 points.

Brynn King, a junior at Roberts Wesleyan, added to her own Division 2 pole vault record with a first-attempt clearance at 15-3 (4.65m), elevating her to the No. 5 all-time collegiate indoor competitor.

King, a Duke transfer, also had three attempts at achieving the Olympic standard of 15-6.25 (4.73m).

Hyde, a transfer from Arkansas, had already achieved Division 2 records this season in the DMR and 3,000.

She joined forces with Morgan Hykes, Jada Miller and Maggie McCleskey to capture the DMR title Friday in 11:17.98, holding off Grand Valley State (11:22.63), the former Division 2 record holder and last year’s champion.

Hyde prevailed in head-to-head matchups Saturday with Winona State’s Kaylee Beyer in the mile and 3,000, becoming the first female athlete in Division 2 history to win the mile, 3,000 and DMR championships in the same year.

Hyde clocked 4:38.74 to hold off Beyer in 4:39.76 in the mile, with Adams State’s Elena Carey taking third at 4:43.32, as the Grizzlies accumulated 20 points.

Hyde ran 9:22.44 in the 3,000, with Beyer placing runner-up in 9:24.15 and Adams State’s Brianna Robles taking third in 9:25.73, contributing 16 additional points for the Grizzlies.

Although Robles was edged by West Texas A&M’s Florance Uwajeneza by a 16:05.17 to 16:06.20 margin in the 5,000 final, Adams State grabbed another 19 points in the event. Anastasia Tucker of Grand Valley State took third in 16:08.43.

Blakelee Winn captured her first pentathlon championship for Pittsburg State with 4,009 points, producing a wire-to-wire victory on the strength of running 8.47 in the 60-meter hurdles and achieving a mark of 42-6.25 (12.96m) in the shot put.

Central Missouri’s Kayla Goodwin placed second with 3,950 points.

Erica Schamel added another title for Pittsburg State, clearing 5-10 (1.78m) on her third attempt in the high jump.

Northwest Missouri not only repeated in the women’s 4x400 relay in 3:35.30, but Tiffany Hughey also won the 400 title in 52.58, holding off Harding’s Omolara Ogunmakinju in 52.85.

Chloe Saenz, Kaylee Harp and Luisarys Toledo joined Hughey in the relay victory.

Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore Alexis Brown swept the 60 and 200 championships, clocking 7.18 and 23.32, respectively.

Minnesota State standout Denisha Cartwright, the Division 2 record holder in the 60 hurdles, became the first female athlete in division history to win three in a row by clocking 8.04 to lead a Mavericks’ sweep of the top three spots. She also secured second in the 60-meter dash final in 7.30 and finished fourth in the 200 in 23.63.

Simon Fraser’s Marie-Eloise Leclair placed second in the 200 in 23.46 and took third in the 60 in 7.36.

Ursuline’s Alaysia Brooks captured the 800 crown in 2:06.97, with UMary’s Elizabeth Acheson finishing second in 2:08.43. Lieke Hoogsteen accounted for the final two points for Adams State, finishing seventh in 2:11.15.

Azusa Pacific’s Nicole Warwick prevailed in the long jump with a fifth-round leap of 21-6 (6.55m), with Cal State Los Angeles’ Jonon Young placing runner-up with a sixth-round effort of 20-8 (6.30m).

Young triumphed in the triple jump with a fifth-round performance of 43-3.25 (13.19m) to surpass Auna Childress from Pittsburg State and her fourth-round mark of 43-0.50 (13.12m).

Grand Valley State’s Erika Beistle was victorious in the shot put at 53-8.50 (16.37m) in the third round, with Colorado State-Pueblo competitor Katherine Higgins taking second at 51-2.25 (15.60m).

Zoe Pentecost of Indianapolis won the weight throw with a third-round effort of 67-2 (20.47m), followed by Findlay’s Trista Fintel at 66-8.75 (20.34m). Fintel also took third in the shot put at 50-4 (15.34m).

Pittsburg State capped its men’s title with a 4x400 victory, as Bailey Stone, Dapriest Hogans, Woyn Chatman and Caden Williams clocked 3:09.78 to edge Northwest Missouri in 3:09.86.

Daylin Williams clocked 7.77 to triumph in the 60-meter hurdles, holding off Parker Wormek from Central Missouri in 7.80.

Tre Betts produced a personal-best 51-9.75 (15.79m) in the second round of the men’s triple jump, withstanding a sixth-round mark of 51-7.25 (15.73m) by Limestone’s Lloyd McCurdy.

Missouri Southern received victories from Peyton Barton in the weight throw and Jon Watts in the long jump.

Barton had a second-round mark of 74-6.50 (22.72m), with Washburn’s Braden Rose finishing second at 72-2.25 (22.00m).

Watts jumped 24-10 (7.57m) in the third round, with Virginia State freshman Markus White mounting a late push to earn runner-up honors with a personal-best 24-9.25 (7.55m) in the sixth round.

Wes Ferguson of Nebraska-Kearney captured his second 800 crown in three years by clocking 1:48.13, with Adams State’s David Cardenas running 1:48.60 to place second.

Harding’s Dakarai Bush edged Adams State’s Jonah Vigil by a 46.88 to 46.96 margin in the 400 final.

Grand Valley State’s Caleb Futter won a tactical mile final with a 4:18.02 to 4:18.30 victory against Adams State’s Miguel Coca.

Coca was also edged by Western Colorado’s Simon Kelati by a 7:57.62 to 7:57.86 margin in the 3,000 final.

Wingate’s Hamza Chahid captured the 5,000 crown with a 13:51.02 performance, ahead of Adams State’s Romain Legendre (13:51.76) and Kelati (13:55.77).

Cardenas and Coca joined Andrew O’Keefe and Ja’Warren Smith in leading Adams State to a DMR triumph in 9:37.94, with Texas A&M finishing second in 9:42.62.

Terrell Robinson, Jr. from St. Augustine’s secured the 60-meter crown in 6.61 and West Texas A&M’s Isaac Botsio placed second in 6.67.

Minnesota State’s Jabez Reeves won the 200 championship in 21.09, just ahead of Findlay’s Josh Verhoff at 21.14.

Grand Valley State teammates Jaivon Harrison and Jonathan Rankins-James both cleared 7-2.25 (2.19m) in the high jump, along with Evans Yamoah of Central Missouri. Harrison prevailed on his first opportunity, Rankins-James was runner-up and Yamoah took third, based on overall attempts at the championship height.

Harding’s Vlad Malykhin cleared 18-4.50 (5.60m) on his third try to secure back-to-back pole vault crowns.

Lee University’s Cale Kassen was victorious in the heptathlon with 5,801 points and Pittsburg State’s Hunter Jones was second at 5,783 points.

Kassen trailed by 19 points entering 1,000 and clocked 2:48.25, with Jones running 2:51.81 to allow the Lee standout to overcome the deficit and capture the title.