Day 2 Recap: Point Park Men in 8th Place at NAIA Outdoor T&F National Championships
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MARION, Ind. -- After Day 2 complete at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, the Point Park University men's team is eighth place out of 50 schools in the team standings. That's after the Pioneers got another NAIA All-American -- their third in two days -- with Daimere Stephens-Stewart notching eighth place in the country for the long jump.
The NAIA national championship meet continues through Friday with Point Park still having Collins Eze competin the men's triple jump on Friday afternoon. Click above for the complete championship results. Below is a recap of Day 2 from Thursday. Follow the Pioneers on Twitter @pointparkxctf for the latest.
MEN'S LONG JUMP
Daimere Stephens-Stewart earned the first NAIA All-American honor of his career by coming up big with an eighth-place finish in the long jump. The junior from Central Catholic High School is Point Park's first-ever NAIA All-American in the event.
Stephens-Stewart had his best jump at the start with a distance of 7.27 meters. That put him in finals and made the cut of the top nine out of the 27 national qualifiers moving on. He had to make sure he remained in the top eight for NAIA All-American status, and he did just that.
In the end, his first jump stood up as the mark he needed for NAIA All-American. Stephens-Stewart came into the national meet seeded ninth in the country, and he moved up to earn a spot on the national podium.
The NAIA All-American honor capped off an impressive junior year for Stephens-Stewart, which included River States Conference Men's Outdoor Athlete of the Year and numerous school records in the jumps and sprints. He has been an NAIA national qualifier for indoor and outdoor the last two years.
MEN'S DECATHLON
Peter Dorando placed 12th in the nation for the men's decathlon finishing just outside of NAIA All-American for the top eight. The freshman from Germany became the first Point Park athlete to compete in and complete the decathlon at the NAIA national meet.
Dorando had the final five events on Thursday for Day 2 of the event. He was sitting in 13th place after Day 1, which included the 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 meters.
He moved up one spot on Day 2 with the events being the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters. Dorando totaled 6,121 points for a personal record. That was within 479 points of the 6,500 needed for NAIA All-American, which was just about one event short of that. Dorando was Top 10 of the 16 qualifiers in four of the 10 events.
On Day 2, Dorando started off with the 110 hurdles placing ninth. That was with a time of 15.67 seconds. He notched his fourth Top 10 of the decathlon in the final event, the 1,500 meters. Running nearly a mile to finish off the two days, he put forth a time of 4:52.44 to place sixth.
The other results on the final day were 15th in the discus (27.81m), 13th in the pole vault (3.70m) and 12th in the javelin (43.09m).
MEN'S 800
Ramiro Ulunque got his chance to run the individual 800 meters one day after being a part of Point Park's 4x800 relay. Ulunque placed 24th in the nation with a time of 1:56. It was the first time competing nationally for the former U-23 national champion for the 800 in his home country of Bolivia.
Ulunque came out with a split of 55.28 seconds for the first 400 meters. That was within the Top 15 of the 32 national qualifiers in the event. He pushed through to get into the Top 25 of the country.
Ulunque's year had him work up to a school record of 1:51.97 to qualify for the national meet. The River States Conference champion was also a big part of the 4x800 qualifying as well.
WOMEN'S 100 HURDLES
Natalea Hillen made her national championship debut as an NAIA qualifier in the women's 100-meter hurdles. She ran her race in 14.76 seconds to place 29th in the country. In her first national appearance, Hillen stayed consistent just off the NAIA qualifying mark of 14.75. That moved her up from her national seed of 38th coming in.
Hillen's strong year had her sweep the River States Conference championships in the 100 and 400 hurdles with a second-place showing in the 60 hurdles for indoor. She was just 0.13 seconds from qualifying for nationals in the 400 hurdles as well running 1:04.83 in her last chance meet.