ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist University senior Mayson DeRousse had a banner weekend at the 2022 AMC Outdoor Track & Field Championships winning three specialty awards including AMC Athlete of the Meet, Outstanding Field Athlete, and Newcomer of the Year. As a group, the Spartans placed second out of eight teams, finishing 16.5 points behind champion Columbia College. The Spartans just missed out on the trifecta of championships after winning Cross Country in the fall and Indoor Track & Field in February.
 
Kicking off the Championships on a high note was senior Jordan Crawford in the 5000-meter race walk cruising to another conference title and finishing more than 13 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Gage Blankenship of Williams Baptist. Crawford continues to hold down the NAIA's top time in the event and will likely enter the NAIA National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala. as the No. 1 seed.
 
DeRousse delivered PRs in two of his top events – pole vault and long jump – which also resulted in individual titles in the events. He came up one spot shy of a third gold medal finish in the high jump. Carrying on Missouri Baptist's strong pole vault tradition, DeRousse was crowned champion with a career-best mark of 5.00m. He is now sitting comfortably among the nation's leaders in the event, ranking third in the NAIA.
 
The Spartans took three of the top-five spots in the long jump with DeRousse taking home first and his second gold of the meet. Camden Woolbright, who finished top-five in three individual events (LJ, HJ, 110H), grabbed third in the long jump with a personal best of 6.34m. Like Woolbright, Ian Lee Heung also finished top-five in three events including the long jump (5^th), 400-meter dash (5^th) and triple jump (1^st), recording PRs in all three.
 
In the triple jump finals, which got pushed to Saturday due to rainy conditions, Ian Lee Heung saved his best stuff for last. The sophomore bounced back from a fault to register a 13.17m in attempt No. 5 and a new career best 13.77m and 1.55m ahead of second-place finisher Andrew Schwarting of Columbia. Joining Lee Heung in the top-three was Keon Graham, who finished third overall with a best jump of 12.02m.
 
Freshman thrower Jordan Walker-Wright collected two top-five finishes in the shot put and discus throw including fourth place and a PR of 13.05m in the shot.
 
In the sprint events, Brayden Bauman recorded the second-fastest prelims time in the 100-meter dash with a 11.28, however, an unfortunate false start in finals prevented the sophomore from a podium finish. D'Angelo Cartwright moved one spot up to fifth with a 11.50 in prelims and 11.68 in the finals. Bauman found redemption in the 200-meter dash challenging for the top spot and finishing as runner-up with a career-best time of 22.94.
 
Joining Bauman in the top-five of the 200 was T.J. Lawson (5^th), who PR'ed in prelims and finished fifth overall. Lawson registered career best in the 400-meter dash clocking at 52.00 for a runner-up finish.
 
Distance standout Donovan Denslow had a busy day Saturday competing in the 800, 1,500 and 5,000. The Eoila, Mo. native earned silver in both the 1,500 and 5,000, while placing seventh in the 800. Finishing top-five in the 5,000 alongside Denslow was Wyatt Elliott (5^th), who PR'ed in the 10,000-meter run on Friday night and took second overall with a time of 32:08.57. The 10,000 was another event that the Spartans had three place inside of the top-five with Denslow and Trey Peugeot finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
 
In relay action, the Spartans were locked in down-to-the-wire finishes in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays falling just short to Williams Baptist in both. The 4x100 relay of Cartwright, Graham, Brett Jones, and Bauman were edged by .07 seconds, and the 4x400 relay of Lawson, Woolbright, Lee Heung, and Bauman came in less than one second behind the Eagles.
 
Up next for the Spartans is the University of St. Francis (Ill.) Fighting Chance Invite for any Spartans looking to snag an NAIA 'A' or 'B' standard before National Championships in two weeks.