JOLIET, Ill. -- The Indiana Wesleyan University women’s outdoor track and field team completed an excellent weekend which resulted in a fourth place finish at the NCCAA National Championship. The meet was hosted by Judson (Ill.) University in Joliet, Illinois.

Azusa Pacific (Calif.) University won the team championship in a landslide with 192 points. Shorter (Ga.) University was runner-up at 100 points, McMurry (Texas) University earned third place with 86 points, and Indiana Wesleyan was fourth at 47 points. There were 24 different teams to score in the championship.

Indiana Wesleyan claimed the team’s only national championship in an individual event on Saturday. Paige Smith outdistanced the field in the Women’s Discus with a throw of 140 feet 4 inches (42.77 meters) to earn 10 points for IWU. Her throw was a ‘B’ standard for the NAIA National Championship.

One other Wildcats finished high enough to score plus surpass a standard for the NAIA meet later this month. That was Kayla Ewert in the Women’s 3,000-Meter Steeplechase. Ewert was the fourth student-athlete to cross the finish line with a time of 11 minutes 30 seconds.

The Wildcats had a pair of scores in the Women’s Shot Put on Saturday. Tina Huffman was fourth in the event with a long throw of 42 feet 1.25 inches (12.83 meters). Huffman was joined by Smith who earned sixth place with a toss of 39 feet 9.75 inches (12.13 meters).

Indiana Wesleyan took sixth place in two relay events today which had three Wildcats runner in both events. The 4x100-Meter Relay was sixth place in a time of 49.68 seconds while the 4x400-Meter Relay crossed the line in sixth place at 4:04. Tracey Tiernon, Talia Benware, and Allix Miller ran for both relay teams while Kyla Morgan ran in the 4x100 and Angel Gaesser competed in the 4x400.

Indiana Wesleyan will run in another meet next week that is still to be determined. Then IWU will host the NAIA National Championships on May 23-25 in Marion.