Wildcats Qualify Two for Nationals, Earn Four Bronze Medals at 2025 Heart Outdoor Championships

FAYETTE, Mo. – The Baker track and field team came away with two national qualifiers and four third-place finishes at the 2025 Heart of America Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Central Methodist this past weekend in Fayette, Mo.

Overall, the Wildcats totaled 47 points and finished eighth in the women's team standings, while the BU men tied for ninth with Culver-Stockton with 40 points for the weekend.

Both Kameron Glasper and Alexis Summers turned in national-qualifying performances with Glasper making it in the shot put and securing a second event for him at nationals after already qualifying in the discus earlier this year. Summers clocked a 24.36 in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash on Friday to earn her first trip to the NAIA Championships.

While clearing the NAIA 'B' standard, Glasper's throw of 16.32 meters placed him third in the shot put and was the first of three top-10 finishes for the senior from St. Louis, Mo. at the conference meet. Glasper also took fourth in the discus (45.63m) and sixth in the javelin (48.46m).

Summers posted fourth-place finishes in both sprint races with the sophomore from Kansas City, Mo. running a personal-best 11.92 in the 100m and a 24.71 in the 200m.

Haley Carter claimed Baker's first podium finish of the weekend after placing third in Friday's 10K race. Carter ran the fastest 10K time of her career with a 40:15.29 and was the first of a string of BU distance runners to cross the finish line with Kristi Chambers following in fourth (40:38.90) and Ellie Barnard (41:22.92) coming in sixth.

Michael Knaussman finished under the 10-minute mark in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, running a 9:53.20 to place third in the event in his first Heart competition.

Caleb Nelson added a second bronze medal for the Wildcats in the field events with Nelson recording a throw of 54.87 meters and taking third in the men's javelin. Nelson was the first of four straight finishers for BU in the event with Ryan Jensen (51.26m), Manowa Ngenzirabona (49.96m) and Glasper occupying the next three spots in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

Carter and Chambers each scored points in the women's 5K as well with Chambers (18:49.07) finishing ahead of Carter (19:06.15) in fifth. Jana Landreth finished in fifth in the women's 3K steeplechase with a time of 12:08.05.

Competing at the conference meet for the fourth straight year, Rachel Sterner placed sixth in the 800m. CarVelle Jones took seventh in the triple jump with his best leap coming in the first attempt of the finals where he went 13.50 meters.

Julie Coffey and Marta Piantanida both picked up eighth-place finishes in the women's field events with Coffey going 35.98m in the javelin and Piantanida marking a 38.74m in discus.

Baker will put a bow on its 2025 regular season with a pair of last-chance meets this weekend, beginning with the Concordia Twilight Meet on Friday, May 9 in Seward, Neb. The Wildcats will also send athletes to Haskell's Billy Mills Night Festival, which is being held on Saturday, May 10 at Free State High School in Lawrence, Kan.

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