ALLENDALE, Mich. — The Pittsburg State University men's outdoor track & field team stormed into the lead in the lead in the team standings early in the afternoon and the Gorillas held off all challengers to claim the 2022 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship Saturday (May 28).
 
The Gorillas compiled 70 points in the three-day championship meet held on the campus of Grand Valley State University. West Texas A&M University finished as the national runner-up with 61 points, while the host school Lakers finished third with 56 points.
 
Pitt State took a seven-point lead into the final event of the day – 4x400m relay – but the Gorillas faced challenges from both the Buffalos and the Lakers in the relay race.
 
Pitt State's quartet of Sam Tudor, Bailey Stone, Nizar Alarahshun and Braylen Brewer sealed delivering the program's second national title – and first outdoor track & field crown – by racing to a national runner-up finish in a school record shattering time of 3 minutes, 6.31 seconds.
 
Louis Rollins and Brewer secured individual event national titles earlier in the day to help put the Gorillas in the driver's seat.
 
Rollins capped his stellar collegiate career by winning the 110 meter hurdles in 13.65 seconds, while freshman T.J. Caldwell followed closely behind in 13.89 seconds to garner third-place in the race.
 
Brewer shattered his day-old Pitt State record in capturing the 400 meters title. He was clocked in a lightning fast 45.77 seconds after turning in a time of 46.20 Friday in the prelims.
 
Freshman Caleb Calvin started the day by placing fourth overall in the javelin throw, cutting loose a personal-best toss of 223 feet, 11 inches – the eighth-best mark in school history in the discipline.
 
Senior Connar Southard, who broke the school record in the 1,500 meters in Friday's prelims, raced to a fourth place All-America finish in his final collegiate race (3:47.53), while junior Mason Strader also placed seventh in the race (3:48.00).
 
Junior L.J. Kiner claimed a national runner-up finish in the triple jump with a best mark of 52-0. He paused his competition in the discipline to help his 4x100m relay teammates Rollins, Tevin Wright-Rose and Brewer secure a fifth-place All-America performance in 40.08 seconds.
 
The Gorillas, under first-year head coach Kyle Rutledge, associate head coach/meet director Brian Mantooth, assistant coaches Ben Barrows, Courtney Lord and Jason Crow, and graduate assistant Caden Gustafson, won the program's first outdoor National Championship. Pitt State's previous best outdoor national finish was fourth place in 1999 and last year's fourth-place tie in 2021.
 
The Gorillas also captured the 2018 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship – the program's first-ever national crown.