River States Conference

3-Peat: Point Park wins RSC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship for third straight year

4/27/2024 12:00:00 AM

 

 

FINAL RESULTS

NEVILLE ISLAND, Pa. -- Point Park (Pa.) University made it three in a row and four out of the last five by winning the 2024 River States Conference Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship contested Thursday and Friday at the P3R Track & Field Complex at the RMU Island Sports Center in Pittsburgh.

The Pioneers scored 180 points to top the field of 12 teams over the two days and 22 events. Point Park has now won four outdoor conference titles in all with those being in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024. There was no RSC outdoor meet in 2020. 

University of Rio Grande (Ohio) placed second with 153 points to take runner-up honors. IU Kokomo in third place (107 points) and Shawnee State (Ohio) University (102 points) made it four teams with over 100 points scored. 

Point Park was the leader after day one, and the Pioneers secured the title with three big event wins on Friday to clinch. Point Park opened up with three event wins on Thursday with Akeem Mustapha winning the long jump, Jakob Blatnik taking the javelin and Jannik Windelband winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase. All three of those were NAIA national-qualifying marks. 

Point Park came through with a victory in the 4x100 to start Day 2, and Kanye Mills won both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles later in the day. For good measure, the Pioneers figured highly in the final two events of the meet placing second in the very closely contested 4x400 and second in the triple jump courtesy of Mustapha. 

Mustapha was named RSC Men's Track & Field Newcomer of the Year. He led the Pioneers in points with 24.5 in the meet. He won the long jump, anchored the victory in a very tight 4x100, placed second in the triple jump and fifth in the high jump.

Rio Grande earned runner-up for the third year in a row. RedStorm head coach Matt Paxton, in his first year, was chosen RSC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year.

Shawnee State took home two big individual awards with distance runner Aiden Kammler named RSC Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and thrower Justin Moore named RSC Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year. 

Kammler led all men's scoring at the meet with 32 points. He won the 10,000 on Thursday and then the 1,500 and 5,000 on Friday. He rewrote conference distance history with RSC records in all three. Moore scored 18 points in the meet placing first in the shot put and second in the discus. 

IU Kokomo's third-place finish was led by Julian Wallace, who scored 27 points as the second-highest men's scorer in the championship. He lifted the Cougars into third place anchoring the 4x400 victory in the final lap 0.01 seconds ahead of Point Park.

There were seven RSC Championship records set this year. Kammler had three of those in the 10,000 (30:48.92), 1,500 (3:55.35) and 5,000 (14:46.29). Jakob Blatnik from Point Park set the javelin record at 67.34 meters. Jannik Windelband setting a record in the 3,000 steeplechase (9:23.24) and Kanye Mills in the 110 hurdles (14.40) were two more records for Point Park. 

Rio Grande set a conference record in the 4x800 relay on Thursday running a time of 7:44.67. 

Also named was the RSC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Champions of Character Team honoring one member from each school who best exhibits the NAIA Champions of Character traits of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship. 

2024 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

Team Scores

1. Point Park -- 180
2. Rio Grande (Ohio) -- 153
3. IU Kokomo -- 107
4. Shawnee State (Ohio) -- 102
5. Midway (Ky.) -- 92.5
6. IU East -- 87
7. Oakland City (Ind.) -- 44
8. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) -- 39
9. Brescia (Ky.) -- 25.5
10. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) -- 11
11. WVU Tech -- 10
12. Ohio Christian -- 4

Individual Awards

RSC Men's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year -- Aiden Kammler, Shawnee State (Ohio)
RSC Men's Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year -- Justin Moore, Shawnee State (Ohio)
RSC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Newcomer of the Year -- Akeem Mustapha, Point Park (Pa.)
RSC Men's Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Yeat -- Matt Paxton, Rio Grande (Ohio)

Champions of Character Team