A Half-Point of Redemption
To set the stage for the 2025 National Championships, remember that two weeks earlier we finished second at the MIAC Championships. We lost to Bethel by a score of 207- 206.5. While the team performed great, we would have needed a little help from other teams to secure the win.
This year’s NCAA National Championships were back in Geneva, OH at the Spire Academy. I have a soft spot for the Spire Academy as it was the site of our 2019 4x100 National Championship. This year, we qualified a good group and were predicted to score 21 points for 9th place.
I liked our chances of improving on our ranking, but I wouldn’t have predicted scoring 39.5 points! Every Johnnie either matched or improved on their ranking and we continue the tradition of performing well in championship meets.
RECAP
Thursday was a cold, rainy day. The goal was to simply survive and make it to finals.
Max Lelwica (SR, Brainerd) had a solid first day of the decathlon and was in second place.
Max Reis (FR, Spectrum) improved on his 14th place seeding to make finals and finished in 9th place.
The 4x100 (ranked 6th) tied their school record of 40.28 in the prelims.
Kevin Arthur (SR, Champlin Park) took his #2 ranking in the 200 and cruised through the prelims.
Friday was a busy day with the decathlon, high jump, and 100 meter prelims.
Jackson McDowell (SR, Arapahoe CO) put us on the scoreboard. He tied for 3rd place (5.5 points) with a jump of 6-11.
Kevin Arthur and Max Reis both made the 100 meter finals. Kevin was ranked second and ran 10.4. Max was ranked 21st and moved to 5th with his time of 10.54.
All throughout the day, there was Max Lelwica steady across all decathlon events. He finished in 3rd place (coming in ranked 4th). His final score was 6,848 points.
Saturday was an emotional day. We had qualified everyone for finals and simply needed to perform.
The 4x100m relay: Emanuel Popoca (SR, Bloomington), Kevin Arthur, Kieran Murnan (SO, Holy Angels) and Max Reis. They combined for a phenomenal time of 39.87! It is the 4th fastest time in D3 history and another school record.
Kevin and Max carried the 4x100 excitement into the 100m dash finals. Kevin finished second with a new school record of 10.17 and the 3rd fastest in D3 history. Max ran a big PR of 10.35 for a surprise 3rd place finish.
Kevin and his reluctant legs managed one more race. He squeaked out one more second place finish with a time of 21.18.
Here we sat with 39.5 points and had moved into fourth place in the team standings: trophy position.This was the most points St. John’s Track and Field had scored at nationals. With a couple of events left, UW-Oshkosh was sitting just behind us in 5th place. Oshkosh had a hammer thrower and a 4x400 team yet to compete and were only 3.5 points behind us.
This is where we received a little help from other teams. The Oshkosh hammer thrower was sitting in 8th place and about to score one point. During the final round, our guys rushed over to the hammer area. They cheered on the 9th place thrower as he bombed a 5 meter improvement and moved into 2nd place. Oshkosh was bumped out of scoring position. The final event, the 4x400m relay, might have been the most exciting event of the weekend as we cheered on the field. Oshkosh needed to finish 5th or better to move into the trophy position. The race stayed close throughout and Loras College stayed in front with Oshkosh finishing just behind in 6th place. The important .5 point kept us in 4th place and on the podium!
This was a pretty special group of guys who performed tremendously well. They may attribute their success to our swanky Airbnb (complete with hot tub and swimming pond), but all of these guys prepared diligently during the year. For the graduating seniors, I could not be more proud to see their careers culminate in such an accomplishment.
Now on to summer!
Jeremy