Life University Athletics

GULF SHORES, Ala. --- The Life University Men's Track and Field team ended its inaugural season in as great of fashion as one could hope for, claiming the NAIA Outdoor Championship behind four day three individual titles and three other All-American honors.
 
Life U finished the day with a total team score of 52, edging out its closest competition, Southeastern, which had 47 team points. British Columbia rounded out the top three with a score of 39.
 
The Running Eagles entered the final day of competition without a single team point to their name, but Christian Colon saw that change early in the morning in the half marathon. He raced away from the competition to give Life U their first gold medal and points of the day, finishing the event in 1:09.06.
 
It took until nearly 4 PM for the next event the men competed in, again claiming the top spot, as the 4x100m relay team recorded their best mark of the season. The squad of Markanthony Hayes, Phemelo Matlhabe, Ngoni Chadyiwa, and Marvin Jean-Francois finished in front of event favorite Indiana Tech in a time of 40.21 to firmly move Life U into contention. After just over an hour long break, Matlhabe returned to the track for the 100m dash, narrowly missing out on the meet record with a time of 10.08 to claim his second title of the day. The 400m dash set up well for the Running Eagles, as the team had a pair of competitors qualify for the finals, guaranteeing good team points. Chadyiwa pushed himself, claiming third place in a time of 46.92, while Jacob Ulrich closely followed at 47.70 for seventh place.

The chance to win the championship became very real after the 400m dash, Life U going into its final two of the events of the day only down a handful of points from Southeastern, while the Flames only had a single athlete left to compete-- an athlete from both teams competing in the 200m dash. Matlhabe completed his excellent week at the Championships and basically clinched the title for Life U by winning the event with a time of 20.48, putting the Running Eagles ahead by a single point. Life U coasted to victory earning another All-America honor as the 4x400m relay squad of Chadyiwa, Jean-Francois, Patrick Faust, and Matlhabe finished in fifth place with a time of 3:14.10.

After claiming the team championship at the NAIA Outdoor Championships, the season comes to a close for Life U, but the successes experienced in year one of the program gives the team a strong base to build off of going forward.