Pair of decathletes and a distance runner headed to Ohio at month’s end

(Editor’s note: Additional information has been added to this story)

A trio of George Fox track and field athletes punched their tickets to compete at the D3 national championships later this month with strong showings at the Bruins Last Chance qualifier, held May 15 at home.

In order to advance to the national championships – slated for May 22-24 in Geneva, Ohio, at the Spire Institute – senior decathlete Thomas McMillan needed to earn a top-22 mark. He did just that and more amid the familiar confines of Stoffer Family Stadium, tallying 6,488 points to earn the 18th-best mark in the nation this season.

McMillan won five of the 10 events (shot put, 400-meters, 110-meter hurdles, discus and 1,500 meters) en route to the first-place finish at the meet.

Senior Max Ashour eked out the 22nd-best mark in the nation in the decathlon as well, scoring 6,474 points with a win in the pole vault and top three finishes in all the other events.

One or two female athletes will travel to national championships

Graduate student Ellie Rising set a personal and school record time of 2:07:47 to move up to seventh place in the nation in the 800-meter run, qualifying her for the national championships in that and the 1,500-meter distances.

Despite setting the second-best time in school history in the 100-meter hurdles at 14.27 seconds, senior sprinter Ayahna Bahati sits at 27th in the nation and failed to qualify for the national championships.

Junior Breanna Schmitt’s mark of 10:50:02 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase has her teetering on the edge of qualifying for the national championships with the 25th-best mark in the country.

The NCAA formally announce the qualifiers for the national championships on May 16. On the men’s side, in addition to McMillan and Ashour, high jumper James King, javeliner Darrin Campbell and decathlete Blake Smith will travel to the national championships. In addition to Rising on the women’s side of the ledger, pole vaulter Grace Tully, javeliner Ellena Corwin and heptathlete Jenna Huntsman will vie for a national crown.

George Fox University’s Antonio Arredondo contributed to this story