Williams Brings Home All-America Honor at Indoor Nationals

Brookings, S.D.--Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering) went toe-to-toe with the top athletes in the nation and earned a spot on the podium as several Statesmen men's track and field athletes were at the 59th Annual NAIA Indoor National Championship Thursday through Saturday.

Williams became the 32nd All-American in WPU men's track and field history as he placed eighth in the 800-meter run.  He opened his individual racing by taking second in his preliminary heat on Friday with a finals-qualifying time of 1:54.29.  The junior then ended up eighth in Saturday's final with a time of 1:55.40.  His award marks the third-straight national tournament in which the Statesmen have had an All-American.

He helped William Penn to one team point and a tie for 63rd overall in the standings.

Williams was also a member of the Statesmen 4x800-meter relay crew, which opened William Penn's national tournament trip.  On Thursday, the relay squad placed 14th with a time of 7:49.46.  The quartet consisted of Williams, D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services), Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management), and Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science).

The time broke the school record which was set just two weeks ago at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship.

Heckenberg and Beaver also hit the track on Friday in their own individual events.  Heckenberg finished 15th in the 1,000-meter run in 2:30.92, while Beaver was 18th in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 8:44.44.

Also on Friday, sprinter Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) took to the oval as well in the 60-meter dash and ended up 21st in the preliminary round in 6.85 seconds.

Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) was the last Statesmen to compete at nationals, participating in Saturday's triple jump.  With a personal best of 47-10, Weaver just narrowly missed qualifying for finals as he was 11th overall.

"Our men competed well throughout the weekend," Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said.  "They were locked in and ready.  Brandon had a heck of a weekend, executing his races so well.  Watching him become an All-American was special.  He has worked so hard for it and it was rightfully deserved.  For Anthony, who is only a freshman, to come in and almost make finals at his first nationals meet, it was really impressive.  Heading into the outdoor campaign, we are excited to see what our men are capable of."