ST. PAUL, MN – Raheem Taitt-Best electrified the 2023 Northern Sun men's outdoor track & field championships as the University of Mary freshman claimed two individual titles on the final day of the meet, including re-breaking a conference mark he set the day prior.
 
With a trio of event titles on Saturday, including a victory in the 4x100 meter relay to start the day, the Marauders finished the NSIC championships in fourth place, rolling up 83 points overall.
 
"I am extremely proud of the grit that our men fought with today to produce their best marks on the last day of the season," said Marauders head coach Cale Korbelik. "We shocked a lot of people in events and came out with more points than expected. Our men doubled their predicted point total, just missing out on second by a small margin. It was great to see what we can do when we are at our best.
 
The men won their first 4x100 meter relay conference title for the NSIC. That was something special to do against a strong field and the defending champs. Raheem took down the NSIC and school record again and doubled the win in the 200m (school record) and 400m. That puts him in impressive company. There were so many Conference champs, Runner-ups, All-Conference, and scoring done that it was a full team effort that got us where we are and beating our indoor placing. Overall, a very good season for a young team with a bright future."
 
After breaking the Northern Sun and the UMary record in the 400 meter dash, Taitt-Best had an even better performance in store for championship Saturday. Racing in his first Northern Sun conference outdoor championship event, the native of Bridgetown, Barbados, placed first in the 400 with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 46.94 seconds. He bested his mark from Friday by .21 seconds.
 
Taitt-Best then came back to win the 200 meter dash in an impressive overall performance by the Marauders. Taitt-Best topped the field with a time of 21.05, another NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
 
Joining Taitt-Best on the championship platform for the 200 was Brendon Hoyte and Jorgen Paulson. Hoyte finished 4^th in an NCAA provisional time of 21.24 seconds while Paulson took 6^th in 21.41. The three Marauders combined to earn 18 team points in the event.
 
The Marauders quartet of Hoyte, Paulson, Akil Howell and Nathan Bender claimed the win in the first running event of the day. The UMary foursome completed the event in 41.13, easily winning the 4x100 meter relay by .66 seconds over MSU Moorhead.
 
A big performance by Hoyte earned the native of Barbados the runner-up finish in the 100 meter dash. His NCAA provisional qualifying time of 10.50 earned him All-NSIC honors in his first outdoor championship weekend.
 
In his first NSIC track meet after making a conversion from pitching for the Marauders baseball team, Vaughn Deinhart earned All-Northern Sun honors after placing 3^rd in the javelin. Deinhart connected for a carrer-best mark of 55.95 meters,
 
Howell claimed 4^th place in the 400 meter hurdles with a career-best time of 54.96 seconds.
 
The Marauders closed the day with a 3d place finish in the 4x400 meter relay. Howell, Joseph Eberle, Hoyte and Taitt-Best combined forced to complete the event in 3:15.43.
 
Also earning podium finishes for the Marauders on Saturday:

• Dawson Strom finished 6^th in the 5000 meter run with a time of 14:44.56. He was 8^th in the 10K on Friday.
• Logan Barnes placed 6^th in the high jump (1.92 meters), a career-best
• Dillan Kovash placed 7^th in the javelin with a top mark of 45.72 meters

 
Minnesota State won the 12-team event for an 11^th straight time with 207 points. MSU Moorhead was second at 91, Augustana was third with 88 points and UMary had 83, ahead of 5^th place Minnesota Duluth (71.5).
 
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