SeanGAINESVILLE, FL – The University of the Cumberlands men's track & field team opened competition Thursday at the 2026 NAIA Indoor National Championships, highlighted by multiple qualifiers advancing to finals and a strong showing in the heptathlon through four events. All events contested on day one were preliminary rounds, with finals scheduled over the next two days.
 
The Patriots were led in the 3000-meter race walk, where three athletes advanced to the finals. Tomas Mencel secured an automatic qualifying spot out of Heat 2 with a time of 13:30.76. Lucien Beardsley followed with an automatic qualification in 13:31.39, while Dillan Melchiore earned a time qualifier after crossing in 13:31.26. Cumberlands will place three athletes in the championship final.
 
The 4x400-meter relay of Noah Kincade, Roy Miller, Tavon Davis, and Jermaine Thompson also advanced, finishing fourth overall in 3:14.31 to earn an automatic qualifying position for the final.
 
In the Distance Medley Relay, the quartet of Victor Carpeggiani, Edwin Van Wyk, Max Young, and Hauke Trost qualified on time after running 9:55.14 to secure a spot in the championship round. Carpeggiani ran the opening 1200m before van Wyk handled the 400m. Young tool the baton for the 800m portion followed by Trost who finished the mile with a qualifying time.
 
Mark Lawin led the way in the heptathlon as he sits atop the leaderboard after four events with 3,018 points. Lawin posted marks of 7.25 in the 60m (796 points), 6.92m to win the long jump (795 points), 14.47m to win the shot put (757 points), and 1.85m in the high jump (670 points) to hold a 48-point lead entering day two.
 
Seth Massie is currently in second place with 2,970 points, placing top-five in all four events. Massie ran 7.10 in the 60m (847 points), jumped 6.91m in the long jump (792 points), threw 12.02m in the shot put (608 points), and cleared 1.91m in the high jump (723 points). The Patriots occupy the top two positions heading into the final three events.
 
The Patriots narrowly missed advancing in the 4x800-meter relay. The team of Caden Cull, Jarod Mahe, Hugo Massa, and Kyle Crady finished ninth overall in 7:38.76, just one position shy of qualifying for the final.
 
Cumberlands will continue competition Friday with finals of the race walk, the completion of the heptathlon, as well as additional preliminary rounds on the track.
 
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