The Red Raider track and field team sent a representative from each squad to the 2010 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Johnson City, Tenn. on Friday and Saturday, March 5-6.
Junior Charity Miles, a two-time All-American, narrowly missed repeating the title, placing tenth in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:21.8. The top eight finishers are named All-American.
Miles’ hit the national qualifying mark at Dordt at the first meet of the season, placing first and running 10:25.34. She then went on to earn All-Conference honors for the third straight year, placing fifth with a time of 10:30.37. Seeded tenth out of 18 runners, with a time of 10:27.34, Miles’ ran the preliminary race in a time of 10:25.13. She placed sixth in her heat and came to the finals seeded ninth, before improving her time in the finals to finish tenth.
Senior Kyle Sauter competed in the 60-meter hurdles. He ran his qualifying mark of 8.32 at the Graphic Edge Invite, which tied him for the 22nd-seed out of 37 competitors. His run of 8.37 at the GPAC meet was good for sixth place and earned him all-conference honors for the second straight year.
Sauter finished fourth in his preliminary heat with a time of 8.56 and did not qualify for finals. His time was good for 23rd place.
Other Raiders to provisionally qualify for nationals this season were Miles in the 5000-meter run (18:34.18), junior Corrie Fautsch in the 600-meter run (1:39.93), junior Kara Den Herder in the weight throw (49’1.75), junior Stacey Dietrich in the 60-meter hurdles (8.76) and the 4×400-meter relay team of Fautsch, Dietrich, freshman Ana Morgan and junior Krystina Smith (4:06.63).