Smith Finishes 21st in 400 Meters at Nationals; Relay Team Places 23rd
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Columbia College men's track and field team competed at the NAIA National Championships on Thursday evening from UNC-Asheville's Gary Straus Track in North Carolina. The meet was delayed due to storms in the area.
AAC freshman 400M indoor champion and outdoor bronze medalist, Alex Smith, ran in the 400 meters Thursday and finished in a virtual tie for 21st place in the nation with a time of 48.15 seconds. His season-best and personal best time is 47.53 seconds which was set back in early April. Unfortunately, Smith did not qualify for the 400 Finals on Friday.
Smith next led the AAC Champion 4x400 meter relay team into action later Thursday night when they competed in the 4x400 prelims at 11:00 pm. The relay team entered the meet with a time of 3:14.97.
The Koalas then ended up finishing 6th out of 7 in their heat with a time of 3:17.1 and went on to finish 23rd overall out of 26 teams. The team consisted of freshman Meshach Guadeloupe, freshman DJ McGriff-Agers, sophomore Ashton Pouncie, and A. Smith in the anchor leg. Guadeloupe opened the relay with a 400 time of 47.49 seconds (which is the unofficial school record) and was followed by McGriff at 51.4 seconds and Pouncie at 49.4 while Smith finished it out at 48.8 seconds. However, all four runners are underclassmen as the Koalas and head coach Tanner Graham look to compete again next season.