PUEBLO, Colo. — The Pittsburg State University men's outdoor track & field team rode the wave of a 17-point outburst in the 110-meter hurdles to take the lead in the team standings and the Gorillas slammed the door on the competition down the stretch to score the program's second straight NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship Saturday (May 27).
The Gorillas compiled 66 points in the three-day championship meet held on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo. West Texas A&M University finished as the national runner-up with 47 points, while Adams State University finished third with 44 points.
Sophomore Cordell Tinch punctuated an incredible championships experience by securing his second and third individual event national titles – in the 110m hurdles and the high jump – after claiming victory in the long jump Thursday.
Tinch (Green Bay, Wis.) shattered his own D2 all-time record in the hurdles when he clocked a blistering time of 12.87 seconds. Immediately following the race, Tinch hurried to the high jump to clear 7 feet, 3 inches to spring into the lead in the event and ultimately claim the title. He passed on two heights, after clearing 6-10.25, in order to race in the finals of the hurdles then needed his last attempt at 7-3 to etch his name further in the annals of D2 history.
Sophomores T.J. Caldwell (Roanoke, Texas) and Daylin Williams (Shorewood, Ill.) placed fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 110m hurdles to help the Gorillas scoring payload. Caldwell secured a personal-best with his time of 13.51 seconds, while Williams was clocked in 14.56.
Freshman Xavier Carmichael (Alexandria, Va.) broke the Pitt State all-time record with his third place time of 10.04 in the 100 meters. Carmichael joined teammates Tevin Wright-Rose (San Antonio, Texas), Dre'shaun Sanders (Raytown, Mo.) and Makai Blades (Glenpool, Okla.) to lower their school record time to 39.49 seconds with their fifth place All-America performance in the 4x100m relay.
Sophomore Caleb Calvin (Carthage, Mo.) earned All-America honors for the second time in as many seasons by placing sixth in the javelin (221-6)
The 4x400m relay of Sam Tudor (Waterloo, Iowa), Bailey Stone (Garland, Texas), Nizar Alarahshun (Tulsa, Okla.) and Sanders closed out the meet with a ninth-place finish in 3:10.16.
The Gorillas, under second-year head coach Kyle Rutledge, associate head coach/meet director Brian Mantooth, assistant coaches Ben Barrows, Jesse-Lee Miller, Jason Crow, Louis Rollins and graduate assistant Caden Gustafson, completed the season sweep after also claiming the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship in March.
The Gorillas have now captured four national championships, winning indoor titles in 2018 & 2023 as well as back-to-back outdoor titles in 2022 & 2023.
