Taylor Catapults to Top-20 Finish at National Championships
NAIA Outdoor Championships Central
MARION, Ind. – All four members of the Taylor men's track and field team competing on the third day of the 2025 NAIA Outdoor Championships turned in All-American performances, catapulting TU to tied-19th in the final team standings with 15 points.
The top-20 showing is just the third such finish at outdoor nationals for the Trojan men since 2010. It also marks the program's best placement at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships since 2022, when the team took 15th overall.
Head coach Derek Gay's squad collected its first two points of the Championships on Friday when Jared Stayte finished seventh in the 3,000-meters steeplechase.
Competing in a fast race, Stayte leapfrogged eight spots between the fifth and sixth splits to help produce a new personal record by over eight seconds. Stayte closed with a time of 9:09.40 to secure his first NAIA All-American honor.
Pole vaulter Josh Forbes was the next Trojan to complete his event, and he added five points to the team total by clearing a season-best height of 4.85 meters to grab fourth place.
The effort from Forbes marked his second consecutive outdoor All-American placement and third total in his track and field career.
In Taylor's final event of the season, Ryan Hanak and Luke Harber both ran outstanding races in the 5,000 meters, outperforming their seeds by 11 and four spots, respectively.
Hanak notched a PR, taking fourth place out of 17 competitors with a time of 14:32.25. Meanwhile, Harber landed TU's fourth best time of the season by crossing in 14:36.48 to snatch sixth place.
Hanak and Harber's All-American finishes marked the juniors' first such accolades in the Outdoor Championships, though Hanak had earned All-American honors during the 2024-25 indoor season and Harber was a 2024-25 cross-country All-American.
Taylor's terrific 15-point Friday at Nationals puts a bow on the 2025 outdoor campaign, yet the Trojans figure to return an abundance of talent in 2025-26 with all four All-Americans now concluding their junior seasons.
