Milligan standout improves by 14 seconds to clock 17:06.10, elevate to No. 4 in NAIA history on indoor 200-meter track; Jackson shines in 60-meter dress rehearsal for return to Millrose Games in New York, with Duke’s King taking women’s pole vault and Montreat’s Blevins winning men’s long jump

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Alyssa Bearzi has experienced the joy and satisfaction that comes with winning an NAIA national title.

The Australian standout at Milligan College in Tennessee has also endured the disappointment and frustration of being the top seed entering an NAIA championship race and not being able to deliver her best performance in the final.

Bearzi, the 2021 NAIA cross country winner, demonstrated Friday at the 11th annual Camel City Invitational that she is highly motivated to contend once again for the indoor 5,000-meter crown, running a lifetime-best 17 minutes, 6.10 seconds at JDL Fast Track.

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Bearzi relied on the exceptional pacing through 4,600 meters by NAIA champion and record holder Emily Kearney – a British competitor representing New Balance who won titles at both SCAD Atlanta and Milligan – to lower her personal best by 14 seconds from last year’s NAIA semifinals in South Dakota, before finishing 11th in the final.

Bearzi elevated to No. 4 in NAIA history on a 200-meter indoor track, with the flat track conversion at JDL Fast Track giving the sophomore an adjusted mark of 16:58.15. She also became the first NAIA female competitor in meet history to win the 5,000.

Kearney boasts the fastest NAIA indoor 5,000 performance in history by clocking 16:17.89 for SCAD Atlanta at the 2020 Appalachian Athletic Conference Championships at JDL Fast Track, also a top 10 performance among all collegiate women’s athletes at the facility.

Although Bearzi’s effort was one of several strong achievements by collegiate competitors Friday, one of the top high school athletes in the country excelled as well.

Shawnti Jackson, an Arkansas-bound senior at South Granville High in North Carolina, won the women’s 60-meter dash in 7.31 seconds after clocking 7.30 in the prelims.

Jackson, who earned gold, silver and bronze medals representing the United States at the World U20 Championships in August in Colombia, returns Feb. 11 to race at the 115th Millrose Games at The Armory, the site of her national high school record 7.18 last year.

Brynn King, a senior at Duke, produced the top performance in the field events Friday by clearing a lifetime-best 13 feet, 11.25 inches (4.25m) on her third attempt in the women’s pole vault.

King improved from her 13-10.50 (4.23m) clearance Jan. 20 at the Hokie Invitational at Virginia Tech.

Dustin Blevins of Montreat College in North Carolina took over the NAIA lead in the men’s long jump with a sixth-round effort of 24-7 (7.49m).

M’Smyra Seward of Fayetteville State, the NCAA Division 2 outdoor runner-up in the long jump, secured victory with a fifth-round leap of 19-2 (5.84m).

Lucy Walliker, a Division 2 All-American at Queens University in North Carolina, cleared 5-8.75 (1.75m) on her second attempt to prevail in the women’s high jump. Queens has transitioned to Division 1 this season and has joined the Atlantic Sun Conference, but is ineligible for postseason competition.

Cha’Mia Rothwell, a former NCAA Division 1 All-American at Duke, triumphed in the women’s 60-meter hurdles in 8.19 after clocking 8.17 in the prelims.

Marcus Krah, a former University of North Carolina standout, won the men’s 60-meter hurdles in 8.07.

RJ Terry of Montreat edged Rashaun Noble of Catawba by a 6.82 to 6.83 margin in the men’s 60-meter final.

Justin Steele of Lee University in Tennessee was victorious in the men’s seeded 200 in 22.07 and Appalachian State’s Cole Krehnbrink clocked 49.11 to take the men’s seeded 400.

Troy’s Naveyh Frost won the women’s seeded 200 in 24.78, with New Haven graduate Riley Knebes prevailing in the women’s seeded 400 in 55.43.

Charles Shimukowa was victorious in the men’s 600 in 1:20.00 and Elon’s Stephanie Lair earned the win in the women’s 600 in 1:35.80.

Concord’s Logan Zuchelli clocked 14:44.97 to triumph in the men’s 5,000.

Troy freshman Jaggerd Moore cleared 6-10.75 (2.10m) on his second attempt to achieve the win in the men’s high jump.

Wake Forest junior Andrew White emerged victorious in the men’s weight throw with a fourth-round mark of 69-1.25 (21.06m).

Duke athlete Lily Lockhart, competing unattached, won the women’s weight throw with a fourth-round effort of 61-11.75 (18.89m).

Duke senior Tyler Hrbek cleared 16-4.75 (5.00m) to triumph in the men’s pole vault.

Lee University’s Lily Hare, Eve Hine, Aria Hawkins and Liza Kellerman clocked 11:58.47 to win the women’s distance medley relay.

North Florida’s Aiden Arnold, Ladarius Tellis, Timothy Doyle and Jared Vazquez ran 10:00.90 to secure victory in the men’s DMR.

Troy swept the men’s and women’s 4x400 relays, clocking 3:22.36 and 3:51.23, respectively.