Men’s T & F team highlights a weekend of national championships

Indiana Tech men’s indoor track and field team defended its indoor title for a third straight year as it scored 105 points to win the NAIA Indoor Championships Saturday in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Head coach Doug Edgar was named Coach of the Year after guiding his team to its third title in a row – the first team to three-peat since Azusa Pacific (California) won four in a row from 2007-10.

John Hester got Tech its first champion of the meet as he captured the 600-meter title with a time of 1:18.36. Harris Edwards III won the 200-meter title with a time of 21.09. The 4×400-meter relay team of Hester, John Broaden, DeShawn Woods and Edwards III concluded the championships with a first-place and school-record time of 3:09.41.

On the ladies’ side, Sarah Dunmore won a national championship by clinching the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.40. As a team, Indiana Tech’s women’s team finished third.

Meanwhile in Topeka, Kansas: Mitch Pawlak pinned eighth-ranked Hugo Perez of Midland at 4:11 to win an NAIA National Championship in the 125-pound weight class – the first-ever individual title in program history.

As a team, Indiana Tech finished with 80.5 points for its best finish in program history.