Rio Grande's Troy Mason (white top) runs during Thursday's Men's 4x400 relay preliminaries at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Gainesville, Fla.

Posted: Feb 27, 2025

Rio men fare well on opening day on NAIA nationals

Rio Grande Sports Information
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Three championship qualifiers and a new school record highlighted the performance of the University of Rio Grande in Thursday's opening day of competition at the 2025 U.S. Marines NAIA Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship, hosted by the Gainesville Sports Commission at the Alachua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Pointe.
Junior Tyler Jenkins (Barnesville, OH) grabbed the last of the 12 qualifying positions in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:45.84.
The top four times from each of the two preliminary heats - plus the next four fastest times - advanced to Saturday's final at 4:20 p.m.
Sophomore Zach Whitley (Wheelersburg, OH) moved on to the finals in the 3,000-meter race walk after finishing with the sixth-fastest time in the prelims with a mark of 13:40.64. The title race is set for 11:15 a.m. on Friday.
Junior Mugisha Pomossene (Dayton, OH) just missed qualifying in the same event, finishing 13th in a personal-best time of 14:50.05.
Rio's 4x800 relay team advanced to the national finals, finishing with the sixth-best time (7:39.17) in the prelims.
The mark smashed the previous school record and, contingent on simply finishing the final, guarantees the unit All-American status since only the top eight times advance to Friday's final at 6:25 p.m.
The team includes freshman John Young (Leroy, OH), sophomore Ashton Beverly (Chillicothe, OH), graduate senior Kyle Lightner (Peebles, OH), junior Trevon Houston (Cleveland, OH), freshman Duncan Kogei (Eldoret, Kenya), sophomore Kasy Science (Marietta, OH), freshman Wes Taylor (Lancaster, OH)and sophomore JJ Larue (Chillicothe, OH).
The 4x400 team, which was comprised of sophomore Troy Mason (Grenville, Grenada), Houston, graduate senior Chase McClay (McDermott, OH), junior Spencer Harris (Gallipolis, OH), Lightner, freshman Anthony Portis, Jr. (Huber Heights, OH), Young and Beverly ran the second-fastest time in school history at 3:19.32, but finished 23rd and did not qualify for the finals.
The RedStorm's Distance Medley relay team also failed to qualify for the finals, placing 27th in the 28-team field with a time of 10:49.38.
"We backed them off since we made the finals in the 4x8 with the same kids," said Rio Grande head coach Matt Paxton. "They were gassed."
The DMR roster included Young, Houston, Science, Lightner, Beverly, Portis Jr., Taylor and Larue.
Friday's action involving Rio Grande also includes Houston in the 400-meter dash prelims at 1:25, as well as Mason in the 60-meter prelims at 3 p.m. and the 200-meter prelims at 5:45 p.m.
Live video of the national championship is available at http://www.NAIANetwork.com.