WILMORE, Ky. - The NCCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are off and running and the Malone University track & field teams are in the mix with seven men's events and six women's events of 22 completed. The Pioneers are tied for third on the men's leaderboard and second on the women's leaderboard.
 
In scored events, the Malone 4x800-meter relay team of Tyler Twining, Brylan Holland, Eric Dehmer and Xander Heil are NCCAA champions with their race-winning time of 7:50.15. Additionally, Hayden Schmidt (fourth) and Alex Hill (fifth) were scorers in the 10,000-meter run with marks of 31:33.14 and 31:52.60.
 
A trio of scoring members came from the discus event for the Pioneer men. Gavin Tribelo placed third with a best throw of 45.35 meters (148' 9.00"). His new personal best mark is good for ninth in program history. Obed West in sixth and Aidan Mastaso in eighth also picked up team points at 43.45 meters (142' 6.00") and 42.42 meters (139' 2.00").
 
Phil Stupka qualified for both the 100-meter and 200-meter event finals. Stupka had a preliminary time of 10.70 seconds in the 100 and 21.46 seconds in the 200. Bryant Thompson will also compete in the 200-meter event finals after he ran a 21.96-second 200-meter in the prelims.
 
An individual national championship was also earned by Olivia Szmania. She won the women's 10,000-meter run for Malone with a time of 40:24.04. Carolyn Miller was fourth for the team at 40:41.93. The team of Rachel Whetstone, Rebekah Stoneman, Kristin Yeager and Brooklyn McIntyre were runners-up in the 4x800-meter relay (9:30.94) to net points for the program.
 
Amber Morris will compete in the event finals of the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. She just missed the program top-ten list in both events, with times of 12.53 seconds and 25.63 seconds.
 
The action concludes on Friday, May 7 from Asbury University.