OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Track & Field teams are prepped to make their debuts this weekend as the Evangels will be compete at the Crimson and Gold Invitational hosted by Pittsburg State at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas on Friday and Saturday to start their indoor season.
After restarting as a cross country program last fall, it is the first time the Evangels will be taking the track as MACU will be competing in the 800-meter, Mile, 3000-meter, 5000-meter, 4x800-meter relay and Distance Medley Relay events.
Both of MACU's cross country programs are coming off their best seasons in program history this fall. On the men's side, the Evangels finished fourth out of 11 teams at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship at Eldon Lyon Park on November 9. The Evangels recorded their best ever team 8k time of 2:15:59 while freshman Jaden Rodriguez became the program's first ever All-SAC honoree after posting a MACU individual 8k record time of 25:16.1 to finish in eighth place.
The squad then followed up with its best ever results at the NCCAA National Championships the following week, also placing in fourth out of 11 squads with a team time of 2:17:44 while Rodriguez also became the program's first NCCAA All-American after crossing the line in sixth with a time of 25:53.0.
Rodriguez made history once again the following week at the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 22 by not only becoming MACU's first ever competitor at the NAIA national meet, but also finished in the top half of the championship field by finishing in 154th out of 331 runners with an 8k time of 25:31.8.
On the women's side, the Evangels fielded their first full team since initially becoming a program between 2008-10, but were led by senior Gracie Sanders, who after putting together an incredible 2023 fall season came back even stronger in 2024.
In the first meet of the season at the SNU Invitational at Eldon Lyon Park on Sept. 7, Sanders became the program's first ever individual race winner after crossing the finish line in 12:07.5 in the two-mile event, winning it by more than 30 seconds.
Sanders won another individual race later in the season at the Mid-States Classic hosted by Southwestern College on Oct. 26, turning in the second-fastest 6k time in program history at the time with a 23:36.46.
Sanders became a back-to-back All-SAC honoree with her third-place finish on Nov. 9 as she shattered her own program 6k record of 23:07.49. As a team, MACU placed fifth out of nine teams with a team time of 2:19:39.
On-top of becoming the program's first back-to-back All-SAC honoree, Sanders also made history on Nov. 15 by earning the team's first back-to-back NCCAA All-American accolade when she crossed the 5k finish line in 18:58.0 to place third.
UPDATE: Jaden Rodriguez will be the only Evangel competing at the meet. He will run in both the Mile and 800-meter events on Saturday. The Mile event is slated to take place at 2:20 p.m. while the 800-meter event is slated for 5:45 p.m.
