MARION, Ind. – Following his recent victory at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Decathlon Championship last month, TJ Davis will now finish his career as a Mountie with the prestigious title of NAIA Men's Outdoor Decathlon Champion. Davis now holds two NAIA National Championship titles, having previously won in the Indoor Heptathlon in 2022.
The Mounties had several other outstanding performances on day two of the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. Along with Davis, both Israel Miles and Elizabeth Grandle earned All-American status after their performances in the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon.
MULTI EVENTS
DECATHLON: The men's decathlon came down to the wire with TJ Davis trailing Treshawn Roberts of Dakota State University by just 149 points ahead of the final 1500-meter competition. With the title on the line, Davis recorded a personal best time of 4:35.29 seconds to become the 2024 NAIA Decathlon National Champion.
"What an outstanding performance by TJ in the Decathlon," said Head Coach Ben Welch. "When you consider everything he has had to overcome just to be at the national meet, it's impressive. But to have the competition come down to the final event, and to achieve a personal best performance at that, is very impressive."
The graduated senior remained steady throughout the two-day competition, placing second across six different events.
Israel Miles was also recognized for his effort in the decathlon, earning All-American Honors with a total of 6365 points. Despite entering the competition as one of the lower-ranked seeds, Miles put together an impressive two-day stretch to claim the sixth-place finish.
HEPTATHLON: Elizabeth Grandle earned herself All-American status for the second straight season in the women's heptathlon, taking eighth place with a total score of 4720 points. Among a deep field of competition this season, Grandle improved upon last year's score by an impressive 243 points.
Trailing Grandle by just nine points, Adrienne Washington finished ninth with a score of 4711 points, while Karli Bedard placed 13th with a score of 4486 points.
MENS TRACK
400 METER: Osman Osman secured 21st place in the men's 400-meter, breaking his own program record with a time of 47.90 seconds.
4x400-METER RELAY: Evan Mesenhimer-Molet, Mason Nichols, Osman Osman, and Bryson Spears competed their way to a time of 3:16.57 seconds, ranking 19th in the men's 4x400-meter relay competition.
WOMENS TRACK
4x400-METER RELAY: Kadence Beck, Taylor Joyce, Lauryn Mitchell, and Sydney Peck placed 14th in the 4x400-meter relay, finishing with a time of 3:52.07 seconds.
MENS FIELD
HIGH JUMP: Tyler Jones took 15th place in the men's high jump competition with a leap of 2.02 meters.
Eastern Oregon will return to competition tomorrow at Indiana Wesleyan, set to compete in the 3000-meter steeplechase, women's high jump, and men's shot put finals.
