ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The Pats continued competition Thursday at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships, highlighted by national titles from Luca Madeo and Lucien Beardsley while several Patriots earned All-America honors. UC currently sits atop the team standings with 38 team points.
 
Madeo successfully defended his national title in the 10,000 meters, winning the event in 29:50.28 to score 10 points for the Patriots. The championship marks Madeo's fourth career NAIA national title, tying for the second-most in program history.
 
The Patriots also claimed a national title in the 5,000-meter racewalk as Lucien Beardsley captured the championship in 20:36.79. This is Beardsley's first national title of his career, and third All-American finish. Cumberlands added multiple All-America performances in the racewalk where Tomas Mencel placed third in 21:11.13 to earn All-America honors. Dillan Melchiore also earned All-America recognition with a seventh-place finish in 22:07.24. UC tallied 18 points just from this event to propel them up the team standings.
 
The 4x800-meter relay also secured All-America honors after placing sixth nationally in 7:32.94. Ryan Ehrler, Hugo Massa, Hauke Trost, and Max Young ran in the national final, while Caden Cull also earned All-America recognition after competing on the preliminary relay squad. UC added three more points from this relay.
 
The decathlon produced two more All-Americans for the Patriots as Mark Lawin placed fifth overall with 6,978 points and Seth Massie followed in sixth with 6,874 points. Lawin highlighted the competition with the top marks in both the shot put (14.44m) and discus (43.82m), while also adding marks of 6.68 meters in the long jump and 4.35 meters in the pole vault. Massie turned in the top long jump mark in the competition at 7.02 meters while also posting marks of 1.91 meters in the high jump and 4.55 meters in the pole vault.
 
On the track, Tavon Davis advanced to the finals of the 400 meters after winning his preliminary heat in 45.70. Roy Miller also competed in the event and recorded a time of 47.27.
 
UC advanced another relay to the finals in the 4x400 meters, as Roy Miller, Zion Pruitt, Tavon Davis, and Jermaine Thompson combined to run 3:09.60 in the prelims. This gives UC all three relays finals appearances with a chance to become All-Americans.
 
In the 800-meter prelims, Hugo Massa posted a time of 1:52.14 for 17^th while Cuauhtemoc Fitiao represented Cumberlands in the 3000-meter steeplechase and recorded a time of 10:14.23 for 31^st, respectively.
 
The Pats have scored 38 team points from the racewalk, 10K, decathlon, and 4x800 events and have a chance to add much more tomorrow with the finals of the 4x100, 200m, 400m, 1500m, 5K, and 4x400 tomorrow. Follow along with live results available here, and live video here.
 
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