Grace To Host NCCAA Track & Field ChampionshipsWINONA LAKE – Grace College is set to host the NCCAA Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Championships on Thursday and Friday at the Key Track and Field Complex.
The event is expected to bring in close to 26 colleges, ranging from NAIA to NCAA Division II, which will amount to nearly 450 student-athletes competing in the championships.
Grace had less than a year to plan for such a large event. A different school was supposed to host the event for this year and next, but decided to withdraw from hosting duties last year. That’s when Grace head coach Jeff Raymond contacted Director of Athletics Chad Briscoe and came up with a proposal to host the event.
The NCCAA accepted the bid and Grace will now host the Championships this year and next year.
Grace has had a lot of big things happening to its track and field program over the last couple years. The team finally got a home track to run on and competed on it last season for the first time.
The athletic department is excited for this opportunity and hopes it will bring a lot of awareness to the track and field teams on campus.
“We want our own program to continue to improve and grow,” said Raymond. “It gives our kids some pride in the program in doing something we’ve never been able to do before.”
“We want to make it a special event for people,” he said. “We want it to be more than just another track meet that people come to and make it feel like a championship event.”
Grace is no stranger to hosting an NCCAA Championship event. The campus has hosted the men’s and women’s basketball championships for a number of years.
Aside from the impact it will have on Grace, Briscoe is excited for the economic impact on the community.
“We’re always trying to find partnerships with how we can better our community,” he said. “I really appreciate the support of the County Commission and Visitor’s Bureau with giving us some dollars to help market and with signage, to try to bring people to Winona Lake for this event.”
The first events will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday and run to 8 p.m. that night. Thursday will include all the preliminary rounds and a few field event finals. Friday will feature all the event finals and handing out the team awards.
Grace will have just under 25 student-athletes competing in the Championships and will showcase two of the top hammer throwers in the NAIA. Isaac Stuckey and Jacob Brown hold some top marks in the event.
Aside from Grace, there will be a lot of quality student-athletes at the event. Raymond expects there to be a lot of track records set in the two days of competition.
