Dragons finish 2nd at GLIAC Championships, Ngandu wins two titles

James Ngandu finished 2nd in the 5000 meters on day one of the National Indoor Championships.
James Ngandu finished 2nd in the 5000 meters on day one of the National Indoor Championships.

Tiffin's men's track and field squad had another banner performance at the GLIAC Championships, taking 2nd overall with 23 All GLIAC performances and 14 more NCAA marks hit on the tourney's final day.

Grand Valley State edged out TU for the overall title 186 to 170, while Ashland was third with 117. Cameron Burrows was named Field Athlete of the Meet, while James Ngandu won two individual titles while shattering two GLIAC records and another school record while posting an NCAA automatic qualifying mark.

Ngandu won the mile in 4:04.34, obliterating the GLIAC record and the TU record with an NCAA provisional time. He then won the 3000 in an automatic qualifying time of 8:05.52, breaking another GLIAC record.

Burrows (pictured at left), meanwhile, was all over the place, taking 2nd in the high jump with a provisional mark of 2.12 meters before also placing 3rd in the pole vault with 4.77 meters.

Also winning individual championships were Mackenzi Rickman in the 60 hurdles in 7.93, Reginald Thomas in the 60 meters in 6.75, Jalon Monigan in the triple jump with 15.37 (another new TU record), and Eric Jackson in the shot put with 17.80 meters. All the marks hit NCAA provisional standards.

Also landing 2nd team All GLIAC honors were Errik Snell in the 60 hurdles (8.06), Drew Hickman in the 400 (48.19), Jonte Baker in the 60 meters (6.78), Thomas in the 200 (21.50), Davis Bowers in the pole vault (4.87 meters), Kevin Roberts in the triple jump (14.40), and the 4x400 relay squad of Hickman, King, Hildreth, and Abbitt. All but the relay mark hit NCAA standards.

Also posting top marks for TU were Nikolas Curtiss (5th in shot put with 17.15), Michael King (7th in 200), Collin Blochlinger (7th in heptathlon with 3807), Kyle Stump (7th in shot put with 16.39), Nathaneal Wilson (8th in 60 hurdles), Abbitt (8th in 400), Shaquille Hildreth (8th in 200), and Thomas Coates (8th in heptathlon).