BROOKINGS, S.D. – The race for the NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field national title came down to the wire between the defending champion Indiana Tech and Oklahoma City Saturday at Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex on the campus of South Dakota State University.  

Indiana Tech and Oklahoma City had been trading leads for most of the afternoon.  The Stars dominated the long-distance events and secured its first-ever national title after the distance medley relay after earning an 11-point lead over the Warriors before heading to the final event. 

Oklahoma City edged Indiana Tech by three points to win the men’s team title (62-59).  Indiana Wesleyan placed third with 34 points, followed by Saint Mary (Kan.) with a fourth-place finish after tallying 31 points. 

A total of 15 events were crowned national champions on Saturday.  Four NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Championship meet records were broken. 

• Oklahoma City secured the top two places in the 1-mile run, led by Zouhair Talbi in 4 minutes, 7.27 seconds.  His teammate Shimales Abebe earned the runner-up with a time of 4:08.39. 
• Brandon Schultz of Brewton-Parker (Ga.) edged Glenn Rodgers of Southeastern (Fla.) to repeat the 60-meter hurdles national title by .01 second difference.  Schultz clocked a time of 7.80 seconds, while Rodgers hit a time of 7.81 seconds. 
• Another repeat title occurred in the 400-meter dash by Ben Jefferies of Briar Cliff (Iowa) with a time of 46.37 seconds. 
• Dylan Felger of Huntington (Ind.) established the NAIA Indoor Track 600-meter national championship record, winning the national title in 1:16.12.  He broke the previous record held by Travis Hinton of Oklahoma Baptist with a time of 1:16.72 in the 2015 national meet. 
• Another NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championship meet record followed the next meet in the 60-meter dash.  Zachaeus Beard of Langston (Okla.) set the meet record with a time of 6.61 seconds to win the title, shattering the previous national meet record of 6.65 seconds by two different runners (Mike Rodgers of Oklahoma Baptist in 2007 and Kejavon Moore of Indiana Tech in 2018). 
• Clayton VanDyke became the third individual national champion in Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) school history, winning the 800-meter run title in 1:50.89.   
• Luke Skinner won back-to-back 1000-meter run title for Saint Mary (Kan.).  He posted a time of 2:25.93 seconds for this third 1000-meter run national title in four years. 
• Oklahoma City’s Talbi and Abebe claimed the top two spots for the second time on the same day.  Talbi won the 3000-meter run title in 8:17.67, followed by Abebe with a runner-up honor in 8:19.05.   
• The Stars regained their lead from Indiana Tech 42-27 after 14 events scored. 
• The Warriors took their lead in the team standings after dominating the 200-meter dash with three runners in the top six places (Indiana Tech led 48-42 over Oklahoma City after 200-meters).  Zayquan Lincoln captured the title in 20.80 seconds, while his teammate Daunte O’Banion earned runner-up in 21.05 seconds.   
• Lincoln set a new NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championship meet record in the 200-meter dash for the Warriors.  The previous record was set by Mike Mitchell of Azusa Pacific (Calif.) in 2004 with a time of 20.84 seconds. 
• Marian (Ind.) earned its first NAIA men’s pole vault champion in program history.  Bryce Carmack cleared the height of 5.00 meters (16 feet, 5 inches) to win the pole vault. 
• Dylan Kucera of Midland (Neb.) earned his third consecutive shot-put national title.  He threw 18.21 meters (59 feet, 9 inches) for the first three-peat NAIA men’s shot-put national title since Zachary Lurz of Concordia (Neb.) from 2015-17. 
• Wayland Baptist (Texas) recorded its third triple jump national champion since 2017.  Zachary Johnson leaped 15.04 meters (49 feet, 4.25 inches) to win the national title.  Dustin Blevins of Montreat (N.C.) was second with 14.97 meters mark (49 feet, 1.5 inches) mark, followed by the 2021 national champion Juba McClay of Hastings (Neb.) with a third-place finish (14.86 meters – 48 feet, 9 inches). 
• Oklahoma City regained the team lead for the third time, thanks to Tabli as he captured the third national title Saturday.  He collected back-to-back 5000-meter titles, hitting a time of 14 minutes, 28.39 seconds.  His teammate Abebe added a third place with a time of 14:36.01, while Luke Pohl of Cornerstone (Mich.) claimed the runner-up honor in 14:33.02. 
• The Stars led 58-51 over Indiana Tech after the 5000-meters race. 
• Saint Mary (Kan.) claimed the national distance medley relay national title for the second time in four years.  Luis Perez, Chase Morstorf, Liam Neidig, and Skinner recorded a time of 9:56.90 in the race. 
• Oklahoma City secured its first-ever NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Championship in school history as they collected four points with a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay (second to last event of the national meet).  The Stars led 62-51 over Indiana Tech prior to the final event. 
• The final event of the day saw the NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Championships meet record established.  Life (Ga.) won its first-ever 4x400-meter relay (Jacob Ulrich, Sameer Mateen, Daniel Williams, and Ngoni Chadyiwa) national title with a meet record time of 3:08.77.  The previous record was held by Wayland Baptist with a time of 3:08.90 during the 2019 national meet. 
• The awards ceremony was held after the conclusion of the three-day national meet.  The men’s outstanding performer goes to Zacheas Beard of Langston after winning the 60-meter dash title with the NAIA championship meet record in both prelims (6.64 seconds) and finals. 
• The men’s most valuable performer was awarded to Oklahoma City’s Zouhair Tabli.  He sparked the Stars to three national titles on the same day, winning the 1-mile run, 3000-meters, and 5000-meters. 
• Frezer Legesse of Oklahoma City was named to the 2022 NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field Coach-of-the-Year award after leading his squad to the first national title in program history.