Eriyon Stamps Highlights Conference Championships

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Results | In a season filled with tough competition at DI, DII, and top NAIA schools, the Pioneers pump had been primed as they entered the Heart of America "HOA" Conference Championship hosted by Mount Mercy University. After a week of intense studying for exams, it was time to unleash the athletic side in competition that would prove to be some of the strongest in conference history. On Friday and Saturday, over 20 athletes bested HOA Conference meet records while 31 destroyed the facility records. Along with that, there were over 55 NAIA National qualifying marks met. The HOA Conference was not to be taken likely and the Pioneers were ready for the challenge.
 
The Pioneers answered the call with two A-standard and one B-standard NAIA National qualifying marks. They grabbed one gold, three silvers, and 10 bronze medals as fourteen All-Conference awards were claimed. Twenty-eight personal bests were earned while 38 Pioneers contributed to the women and men's team scores.
 
In this two day event, the throwers, long jumpers, pole vaulters, decathletes, short sprinters, 800 meter experts, and 10k runners were the first to go to battle. Where the throwers and jumpers took their expertise to the skies, the track athletes hit the ground running, each doing their part.
 
Elijah Bergin, Dominic Colosimo, and Ian Hanson led the Pioneers in the decathlon where they totaled 10 individual bests, including the combined scores. They also were contributors to the team scoring.
 
The javelin throw started off the field events on Friday where Nora Powers led the Pioneer women as Ella Margheim grabbed a personal best. Both scored points for the women as they took fifth and eighth, respectively. Brody Stewart started the All-Conference honors with a third place showing for the men while Jaxson Nation took home a personal record.
 
Similarly, the long jump crew took to the skies with four Pioneers hitting scoring marks. Olivia Young added to the All-Conference honors taking home a bronze medal while three Pioneer men helped move the team into the top three. Freshman KeJuan Williams exploded off the board to hit a personal best and land the bronze medal. Eriyon Stamps and Elijah Bergin added to the scoring collection as they took sixth and eighth, in that order.
 
Following the long jump, Jacob Creswell continued leading the Pioneer charge in the hammer throw, as he has all season long, with an All-Conference third place showing for six team points. The Pioneer women also added to the team scoring as Alicia Hernandez-Mast and Rachel Nisly went six and seven. Nisly grabbed seventh with a personal record.
 
On the track the preliminaries in the men's 110-meter hurdles got the ground attack started. National phenom, Lance Jones, continued his winning ways with an A-standard mark that won his heat and led all athletes after the preliminaries. This placed him in the finals where he would face the #2 110-meter hurdler in the NAIA. The finals went down to the wire where a photo finish separated the top two. This time, the competition got the nod with Jones taking the silver medal.
 
In the 100-meter dash preliminaries, two Pioneer men, Gift Orionoma and Jatavion Pegues, won their heats to advance to the finals. In the finals, Orionoma grabbed the silver medal for All-Conference honors while Pegues added to the team scoring with a seventh-place finish.
 
The 4x800 followed the 100-meter dash prelims, where the Pioneer women's squad of Anna McKnight, Josie McClung, Riley Filmore, and Lana Smittick, fought the good fight for a sixth-place finish.
 
Likewise, the 4x800 Pioneer men of Aidan Scherman, TJ Bessmer, Jacob Hendrickson, and Zack Jones, equaled the women's placing of sixth for four points. There were some great 800 splits in the Pioneer relay, but that wasn't enough in an event where three teams qualified for the NAIA Nationals. God provided incredible competition.
 
The track switched back to the speed demons in the 200-meter dash prelims where James Farmer-Cole ran a seasonal best to set the top time for the day while qualifying for finals. It was an impressive heat for the Pioneers as Orionoma followed Farmer-Cole across the line. In the finals the next day, Orionoma ran his personal best to grab his second All-Conference award, finishing third. Farmer-Cole, unfortunately, injured himself in the 400, but still did everything he could to finish the 200 finals and earn points for the team.
 
The final event on Friday was the 10,000-meter run, an enjoyable 25 laps around the track. The Pioneers sent three athletes to the line where each took advantage of a cooler day to set personal records by as much as 3 minutes. Gracie Enochs ran her best time for the Pioneer women where Gavin Williams and Ken Morgan claimed their bests for the men.
 
With day one over, the MNU women were sitting in the top 5 while the men were in the top 3 teams.
 
On Saturday, the battle ground exploded with the field events leading the way for the Pioneers. The women throwers of MNU continued their relentless aerial attack with Hernandez-Mast leading the charge. Hernandez-Mast scored points in both the discus throw, where she set a personal best, and the shot put, taking eighth and fourth, respectively. Teammate Nisly also hit a personal best in the discus which earned her sixth place, giving her a second personal record for the weekend. For the meet, the Pioneer women throwers led the women's team scoring with 19 points.
 
Meanwhile, the Pioneer men, led by Alex Dawkins, were keeping the points flowing in the discus throw. Dawkins took All-Conference with a bronze medal while teammate Creswell grabbed three points for the team at sixth.
 
Closing up the field events scoring, the triple jump crew continued to impress as they have all season. For the women, Young added to her team point total with another All-Conference earning mark as she hit a B-standard NAIA qualifying mark. Her fourteen team points led the Pioneer women. Teammates Hayley Loewen and Jaidyn Tabony contributed with seventh and eighth place finishes for an additional three team points. For the men, Stamps laid down an A-standard qualifying mark to set a facility record and earn the lone gold medal for the team. Williams hit his second personal best for the weekend to grab the bronze. Both men earned All-Conference honors.
 
Up first for the track events, the Pioneer men sent Brenton King to the line for the grueling 5000-meter racewalk. This was King's first attempt, but he was able to hold form in a highly judged event. King earned a seventh-place finish for points as well as the respect of his competitors who mentioned his encouragement to them as they raced.
 
For the men, every point was needed as teams three through five started to bunch closely together.
 
In a very tightly contested 4x100 meter relay, the Pioneer men of Orionoma, Pegues, Isaiah Keezer, and Timarian Rozell went to the line thirsty for a top team finish. It was tight from beginning to end where the Pioneers ended with a sixth-place finish.
 
Breaking up the sprints, the 1500-meter run led to two personal bests and eight points for the Pioneers. Isabella Meili led the women with an All-Conference bronze medal for six points with teammate McKnight adding to the personal best totals. Meanwhile, Hendrickson continued to have an impressive weekend for the Pioneer men with his second personal best and a seventh-place finish for two points.
 
In the 400-meter dash, Lakin Essex, ran a strong race to grab fifth place and earn points for the Pioneer women. Teammate Taryn St. Clair hit a personal best with Eilyannis Monge grabbing a seasonal outdoor best. The Pioneer men grabbed two places as Rozell and Keezer set personal bests while grabbing fifth and sixth, respectively. Only two thousandths of a second separated the two.
 
Meili continued to add to the point totals as she took fifth place in the 800-meter run. It was her second point getter of the day.
 
Following the 800-meter run, the Pioneers used their strength in the 400-meter hurdles to place three of its athletes in the points while another set a personal best. Essex had to do it the hard way as she fell around the 8th hurdle only to get up and take eighth place overall in the women's division. For the men, Jones set a personal best while earning All-Conference with a third-place finish. Sam Keita took his heat with a time which allowed him to claim fifth place after running the event for the first time this season. Fardis Hossinei set a personal best when he claimed the top spot in his heat.
 
The final scoring event for the Pioneers was the ever exciting 4x400 meter relay. The Pioneer women were composed of St. Clair, Meili, Monge, and Essex. The Pioneer women battled, but the top three teams slipped away early while MNU fought with Mount Mercy. In the final leg, Essex ran a very strong leg to leave the Mustangs behind and close on the Pirates of Park. For their fight, they ended up taking fourth place, a couple seconds behind the Pirates. Following the women's race, the MNU men's team of Hossinei, Thomas Knudsen, Rozell, and Jones took on two teams which had already qualified for the NAIA National meet. Both Central Methodist and Park pulled away from MNU but were still within striking distance. Like the women, though, it came down to a battle with the host, Mount Mercy. For the men, however, Jones was able to hold off Mount Mercy by a lean at the tape as they claimed All-Conference status with a bronze medal.
 
With all the events completed, and after a strongly waged battle, the Pioneer women walked away with fourth place while the men earned a respectable fifth place team finish, separated by a mere six points from the third place trophy in a 14 team contest.