BROOKINGS, S.D. — A pair of personal bests and a new school record were the product of the trio of athletes representing the University of Rio Grande in Friday’s action at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex.
Sophomore Amirah Strauther (Pickerington, OH) set a new personal-record and new school-record with a time of 8.93 in the women’s 60-meter hurdles preliminaries.
However, she failed to qualify for Saturday’s final and finished in a three-way tie for 11th place overall.
Fellow sophomore Dean Freitag (Magnolia, OH) narrowly missed an All-American finish after taking ninth place in the men’s 3,000-meter race walk with a new personal-best time of 14:00.44.
The top eight individuals in each of the running events are named All-Americans.
Junior Chanavier Robinson (Ravenna, OH) ran a 7.90 in the women’s 60-meter dash prelims, but failed to qualify for the finals and finished in a tie for 30th place overall.
Rio Grande will open its outdoor track & field schedule on Friday, March 15, at the LR Southside Power & Fitness Invitational hosted by Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C.

Randy Payton is the Sports Information Director at the University of Rio Grande.