uDAY ONE RESULTS


MARION, Ind. - Day two of the 2024 NAIA National Championships produced two more All-American performances for Grace's track and field team on Thursday.

Grace's 4x800-meter relay teams both nabbed All-American finishes on the penultimate day of the meet.

The women's 4x800 relay team of Morgan Welch, Tara Friesen, Anna Hulstedt and Kylie Sauder finished as the national runners-up with a blazing time of 8:57.86. The time beat the previous school record by almost two seconds.

The runner-up finish is Grace's third consecutive All-American award in the women's 4x800 with Friesen, Hulstedt and Sauder involved in all three. All three years were also top-three finishes.

The men's 4x800 squad of Brady Hunsberger, Luis Loera, Dimitri Margaritidis and Logan Rufenacht produced a seventh-place finish at 7:36.34.

Sauder began the day for Grace in the 800 semifinals. She placed sixth in the preliminaries with a time of 2:11.47. As a result, she will race in Friday's 800 finals at 3:50 p.m.

Rufenacht also ran in the 800 preliminaries, finishing 20th at 1:52.99. 

Esther Cameron ran a 18:03.97 in the 5,000 to place 26th. 

The day ended with Grace's 4x400 relay team competing. Zoe Huley, Cadence Manning, Olivia Adkins and Gracious O'Connor earned 25th place with a time of 3:59.07.

Friday will conclude the NAIA meet. Grace will compete in three events, including the women's discus (Lanae Crowe), men's 1,500 final (Margaritidis) and women's 800 (Sauder).