GULF SHORES, Ala. – The 2018-19 track and field season came to a close this weekend as eight individuals competed at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The Marathon was the highlight event as Vanessa Cortes (JR/Bakersfield, Calif.) earned All-American honors for her third-place finish with a time of 3:10:51.20, breaking the school record by nearly 10 minutes. On an extremely hot and humid day, Andrea Ertz (JR/Central City, Iowa) and Alexa Zamora (SR/Apple Valley, Calif.) followed close behind the pace set by Cortes. Ertz collected a ninth-place finish (3:24:32.90) while Zamora finished in 10th place (3:24:34.30), landing them the three and four-spot in the school record books.

Also competing on the women's side, Rachel Gadient (JR/Anamosa, Iowa) placed 14th in the Heptathlon with 4283 points. Gadient also competed in the High Jump but did not place. Kathryn Vander Poel (SR/Bakersfield, Calif.) placed 16th (2:17.21) in the 800 Meters Preliminaries but did not advance to the Finals.

On the men's side, Jon Andersen (SR/Cedar Rapids, Iowa) snagged a ninth-place finish in the 5000 Meter Race Walk with a time of 25:45.54. Colton Forster (SR/Marion, Iowa) finished in 18th place (34:19.68) in the 10000 Meters. Luke Nickelson (JR/Nipomo, Calif) finished in 27th place (6.61m) in the Long Jump.

These performances at the national level capped off a record-breaking season for the Mustangs both as a team and individuals. The women concluded the outdoor season with five top 5 finishes, while the men finished with four. In addition, the Mustangs captured numerous personal best, conference championship, and record-breaking individual performances this season.