BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – For the second straight weekend, senior Emily Bayer bolstered her NAIA Indoor National Championship resume with an NAIA qualifying mark at the ONU Walter Cramer Invitational. The Spartans trekked to Olivet Nazarene University for a second time this indoor season and came home with nearly 20 personal bests and several notable finishes in the running events.
 
Although Bayer was unable to repeat her first-place performances from the previous weekends, the senior standout's fifth-place finish in the 3000-meter run was overshadowed by an NAIA 'A' standard in the event clocking in with a PR of 10:26.42 (10:21.10 converted).
 
The freshmen tandem of Isabel Rinkenberger and Mia Reed collected a pair of second place finishes in the 600-meter run and 1000-meter run. Rinkenberger challenged Lindsey Novak of North Central (Ill.) for the top spot in the 600 with her time of 1:43.69 (1:42.44 converted), while Reed finished runner-up in the 1000 between gold medalist Laisha Corona of University of St. Francis (Ill.) and seven other USF runners.
 
Bayer, Rinkenberger, Reed and Lillian Nix teamed up in the 4x800 relay to take second and came within 1.5 seconds of the NAIA 'B' standard. Other Top-10 performers on the women's side included Nani Brewington in the 5000-meter run (4^th) and Vanessa Waidmann in the 800-meter run (9th). In the sprint events, Nakira Gage returned to action for the first time since December and came up just four hundredths shy of making the 60-meter dash finals with her time of 8.20.
 
One of the main headlines for the Spartan men on Saturday was distance runner Donovan Denslow, who finished 10^th out of 49 competitors in the 3000-meter run. Denslow's personal best and converted time of 8:40.91 is a touch under a second away from the NAIA 'B' standard (8:39.96). Denslow's performance is the top time in the American Midwest Conference by more than 10 seconds.
 
Fellow distance runners Wyatt Elliott and Trey Peugeot pushed each other throughout the 5000-meter run and finished consecutively in fourth and fifth place with times of 15:55.41 ad 15:56.01.
 
TJ Lawson finished one spot outside of the Top 10 in the 400-meter dash. Jordan Walker-Wright also finished 11^th in both of his events including the shot put and weight throw.
 
PERSONAL BESTS (WOMEN)
Emily Bayer – 3000-Meter Run – 10:26.42
Brooke Heberer – 3000-Meter Run – 12:07.24
Lillian Nix – 600-Meter Run – 1:58.60
Mia Reed – 1000-Meter Run – 3:09.17
Isabel Rinkenberger – 600-Meter Run – 1:43.69
Madison Sargent – 200-Meter Dash – 29.54
Madison Sargent – 400-Meter Dash – 1:14.34
Bella Schreiber – 60-Meter Hurdles – 11.91
Alaina Scott – Pole Vault – 2.82m
Vanessa Waidmann – 800-Meter Run – 2:42.91
Vanessa Waidmann – 1-Mile Run – 6:00.66
Jordyn Zoph – Weight Throw – 10.02m
 
PERSONAL BESTS (MEN)
Donovan Denslow – 3000-Meter Run – 8:46.97
Keon Graham – 60-Meter Hurdles – 10.05
Christian Kafoury – 3000-Meter Run – 10:37.48
JP Killian – 3000-Meter Run – 9:10.61
Luke Montani – 1-Mile Run – 6:29.34