EMPORIA, KS – Raheem Taitt-Best wrapped up his stellar sophomore season with an All-American display in his final race of the year. In his first national championship final, the University of Mary sophomore sprinter finished 6th nationally in the 400 meter dash at the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship.
The Northern Sun champion earned a spot in the 400 meter finals after taking sixth in the preliminaries on Thursday. The native of Bridgetown, Barbados, matched his preliminary posting when he crossed the finish line in 47.20 seconds. He missed taking 5
th by just .10 seconds on his way to earning All-American honors for the first time.
Entering the weekend Taitt-Best was 11
th on the 400 meter leaderboard. He ensured himself a higher finish that his seeding slot when he ran a school-record time of 46.53 seconds in the preliminaries.
This was the third time Taitt-Best has competed at an NCAA championship and the first time making the finals. He also ran in the 200 meter preliminaries on Friday and placed 13
th in the nation.
"What a great way to cap off the season for the men as a program," said UMary head track & field coach
Cale Korbelik. "We scored our first nationals points since 2019. We entered the week ranked 41st and we leave 34th as a team.
"Raheem did a great job of battling to the line in his 400m final. He competed hard for the TEAM and got his first All-American honor.
"I also want to say how proud we were of
Hayden Von Wald. It is not easy to come to your first national meet and score. He was a monster on the runway. We are excited for his final season as he will continue to do big things."
Von Wald joined Taitt-Best with a podium finish when he placed 6
th in the long jump and also earned All-American honors for the first time. Von Wald and Taitt-Best combined for six team points to earn the Marauders a 34
th place finish in the final team standings.
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