TOPEKA — The Pittsburg State University men's indoor track & field team entered Championship Sunday with a sizable lead and the Gorillas slammed the door on the competition early in the day to secure the 2024 MIAA Indoor Championships Sunday (Feb. 25) at the Washburn University Indoor Athletic Facility.
 
The Gorillas posted 212 points – the highest point total in MIAA Indoor Championships history – to beat MIAA runner-up Missouri Southern State University by 129 points. The Lions finished the meet with 83 points, while third-place Northwest Missouri State University totaled 75.5 points.
 
Pitt State established a new point total record for a second straight year after compiling a record breaking 208.5 points at the 2023 MIAA Indoor Championships at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg.

The Gorillas captured five MIAA titles on the day. Distance stars Mason Strader and Braden Zaner opened the day with individual crowns in the mile run and the 3,000 meters. Strader (4:06.69) and Dylan Sprecker (4:07.18) posted a one-two finish in the mile, while Zaner crossed the finish line in a personal best time of 8 minutes, 13.25 seconds in the 3,000m. Zaner, who also claimed the 5,000 meters crown Saturday, took home MIAA High Point Award honors from the meet.

Daylin Williams also secured an MIAA title in the 60-meter hurdles (7.73), while Treyvon Ferguson won the triple jump (51-1.5) and the 4x400m relay of Bailey Stone, Woyn Chatman, Nate Watson and Caden Williams posted a winning time of 3:12.06.

Tevin Wright-Rose (6.75) and Dakari Charlton (6.77) finished second and third in the 60 meters, with Charlton adding a second-place effort of 21.30 in the 200 meters.Williams (47.67) and Chatman (47.79, PR) placed third and fourth in the 400 meters, while Watson added a sixth-place time of 1:12.99 in the 600-yard run.

Greyson Smith finished as the MIAA runner-up in the pole vault (17-3.5, PR) while Tre Betts also placed second in the triple jump (50-5.5). Cole Sample (shot put, 57-6.5) and Joel Nyatusah (60m hurdles, 7.91) both recorded third-place All-MIAA performances. Strader also finished third in the 800 meters (1:51.56).

Other Sunday point scorers included:  Matthew Oglesby, 3,000m (fourth, 8:23.13; Britton Gage, pole vault (sixth, 16-3.5, PR); Hunter Jones, 60m hurdles (sixth, 8.06); and Sprecker, 800m (eighth, 1:54.95).
 
The Gorillas won their fourth straight MIAA indoor crown and the program's eighth MIAA indoor title in the last 11 years (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). Overall, this marked Pitt State's 10th MIAA Indoor Championship since joining the conference in 1990.