BROOKINGS, S.D. – A new NAIA All-American has been added to the Missouri Baptist record books. After multiple close calls at past NAIA National Championships, junior
Mia Reed finally broke through at the 2024 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships with an All-American finish in the 1,000-meter run. Reed's sixth-place finish in the 1,000 highlighted the Spartans' latest trip to Indoor Nationals.
Reed, the three-time reigning AMC champion in the 1,000, ran a new PR (2:53.74) in prelims and knocked off five seconds from her previous best. The Augusta, Mo. junior logged the second-fastest time in Heat 2 and overall in Friday afternoon's prelims to earn her spot in Saturday's finals. Reed, who finished 10
th and two places away from All-American status at the 2023 Indoor Nationals (1000m) and 2023 Outdoor Nationals (3000m), solidified her first All-American honor with a sixth-place finish in finals.
Several Spartans joined Reed on the national stage, including her companions from the 4x800-meter relay –
Emily Farchmin,
Adrienne Rockette, and
Angela Ward,
Alaina Scott in the pole vault, and
Donovan Denslow and
Mayson DeRousse on the men's side.
The women's 4x800 relay finished 20
th out of 25 teams on Friday with a season-best time of 9:40.77. The Spartans' seed time and previous best came at the Principia Relays (9:41.32). Distance coach
Jerry McQueen singled out sophomore
Adrienne Rockette's performance, where she nearly cracked 2:20 on the second leg of the relay.
Making her fourth NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championship appearance (2019, 2020, 2022, 2024), Emily (Bayer) Farchmin competed in the open 600-meter run, finishing 20
th overall at 1:41.64.
Junior
Alaina Scott made her first national appearance and matched her PR of 3.57 meters in the women's pole vault, clearing the bar on her second attempt. Scott was one of 10 competitors in a log jam at 3.57m and placed 17
th overall, just out of reach of a Top-10 finish.
For senior
Donovan Denslow, slow and steady won the race in the 5,000-meter run prelims. Denslow won Heat One with a time of 14:36.25, just .33 seconds off the top mark on Thursday. The Eolia, Mo. standout entered Saturday's finals as the No. 2 seed. For a large portion chunk of finals, Denslow pushed his limits, remaining at the front of the pack. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough gas left in the tank, and he dropped to 12
th place after crossing the finish line at 15:13.74.
Rounding out the Spartans' national qualifiers was
Mayson DeRousse, who entered the championships with the second-best mark in the men's pole vault this season (5.15m). Bypassing 4.55, 4.65, 4.75, and 4.85m, DeRousse began his quest at 4.95m, which would have put him squarely in the mix for a podium finish. However, the grad student from De Soto, Mo. missed on all three attempts and registered a 'no height'.
The Spartans will now focus on the outdoor season, which will kick off on Friday, March 22, at the Missouri S&T Miner Invitational.
