BROOKINGS, S.D. – With the lights shining bright at the 2022 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships, senior Emily Bayer delivered knockout performances on Friday and Saturday to secure a medal and an All-American award in the 1-Mile Run. In total, MBU was represented by six student-athletes – four Spartan women and two Spartan men – at the National Championship event held at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings, South Dakota.
 
Emily Bayer – 1-Mile Run
The training paid off for the Imperial, Mo. senior in the Mile beginning with the preliminary round on Friday. Bayer recorded the fastest time in Heat 2 (5:01.37) and entered Saturday's finals with the second fastest mark overall. She saved the best for last and cracked the five-minute mark for the first time in her career. Her time of 4:57.66 was good for bronze and NAIA All-American honors, also a first for the senior. In total, Bayer knocked off nearly 10 seconds from her PR in the Mile heading into Nationals.
 
With Bayer's six points from the Mile, the Women's Team finished 31^st out of 56 in the final team standings.
 
Mayson DeRousse – Heptathlon & Pole Vault
DeRousse improved on his No. 14 seed in the heptathlon, finishing Nationals with a career-high and school record 4,651 points and just two spots outside of All-American status in 10^th place. Highlights from the senior transfer's showing in the heptathlon were a career-best 7.27 in the 60-meter dash to kick off Day One, second overall in the long jump with another personal best – 6.74m, and first place and 775 points in his specialty event – the pole vault.
 
Donovan Denslow – 5000-Meter Run
Finished 14^th out of 31 runners in the 5000-Meter Run preliminaries and just missed making the championship final with 12 advancing (top 4 from each heat + next 4 best times). Denslow broke the 15-minute barrier for the first time in his collegiate career clocking in at 14:57.85.
 
Women's Distance Medley Relay
The Distance Medley Relay of Mia Reed, Madison Sargent, Isabel Rinkenberger, and Emily Bayer that qualified for Nationals with an 'A' standard at the Indoor Gorilla Classic at Pittsburg State, finished 16^th out of 19 teams with a time of 12:34.88.
 
Mia Reed – 1-Mile Run
In her first NAIA Indoor National Championship appearance, Reed placed 20^th overall with a time of 5:18.90.
 
With Indoor season in the rearview mirror, the Spartans will now turn their attention to the Outdoor season, which is scheduled to kick off at the CMU Open in two weeks.