Healthy contingent representing Rio at indoor nationals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Seven individuals and three relay units will represent the University of Rio Grande at the 2025 U.S. Marines NAIA Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship hosted by the Gainesville Sports Commission, Thursday-Saturday, at the Alachua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Pointe in Gainesville, Fla.
     The RedStorm's individual representatives include sophomore Rowen Gerlach (New Haven, WV) in the shot put, junior Trevon Houston (Cleveland, OH) in the 400-meter dash, junior Tyler Jenkins (Barnesville, OH) and freshman Duncan Kogei (Eldoret, Kenya) in the 5,000-meter run, sophomore Troy Mason (Grenville, Grenada) in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, and sophomore Zach Whitley (Wheelersburg, OH) and junior Mugisha Pomossene (Dayton, OH) in the 3,000-meter Race Walk.
     Gerlach had the 25th-best qualifying mark in the shot at 15.96m, while Houston's time of 48.78 in the 400 was 20th-fastest. Jenkins' mark of 14:29.31 in the 5,000 was third-quickest and Kogei's time of 14:40.85 was 14th-fastest.
     The preliminaries and the finals for shot put are scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 p.m., while the prelims in the 400 are slated for Friday at 1:25 and the preliminaries in the 5,000 are on Thursday at 2 p.m.
     The finals in the 400 and 5,000 are both set for Saturday at 1:15 p.m. and 4:20 p.m., respectively.
     Mason, who qualified ninth in the 60-meter dash at 6.72, will run in the prelims on Friday at 3 p.m., while the 200 prelims - which he qualified for with the fifth-best time of 21.10 - are set for Friday at 5:45 p.m.
     The 60-meter final will take place Saturday at 2:10 p.m. and 200 title race is on Saturday at 3:40 p.m.
     Whitley had the ninth-best qualifying time in the 3,000 Race Walk at 13:19.30, while Pomossene's time of 14:54.03 was 14th-best. The preliminary race in the event is set for Thursday at noon, with the final on Friday at 11:15 a.m.
     Additionally, Rio's 4x400, 4x800 and Distance Medley relay teams will also be competing in the national championship.
     The 4x400 team, which qualified 24th with a time of 3:17.91, is comprised of Mason, Houston, graduate senior Chase McClay (McDermott, OH), junior Spencer Harris (Gallipolis, OH), graduate senior Kyle Lightner (Peebles, OH), freshman Anthony Portis, Jr. (Huber Heights, OH), freshman John Young (Leroy, OH) and sophomore Ashton Beverly (Chillicothe, OH).
     The 4x800 squad qualified 12th with a mark of 7:44.11 and features Young, Beverly, Lightner, Houston, Kogei, sophomore Kasy Science (Marietta, OH), freshman Wes Taylor (Lancaster, OH)and sophomore JJ Larue (Chillicothe, OH).
     The Distance Medley unit, which had the 15th-fastest time of 10:08.13, includes Young, Houston, Science, Lightner, Beverly, Portis Jr., Taylor and Larue.
     The prelims in the 4x800 are set for Thursday at 3:15 p.m., while the 4x400 relay preliminaries follow at 4:15 p.m. and DMR prelims take place at 5:45 p.m.
     The 4x800 relay final is set for Friday at 6:25 p.m., while the DMR final will take place Saturday at 5 p.m. and the 4x400 relay final will follow at 5:40 p.m.
     Live video of the national championship is available at http://www.NAIANetwork.com.