INDIANAPOLIS – Chadron State College sophomore Chayton Bynes earned All-American honors by placing fifth in the triple jump at the NCAA Division II National Indoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis Saturday afternoon. 

Bynes's best mark of 15.32 meters (50-feet, 3 ¼ inches) came on his third jump and was just two inches shy of the winning mark. Bynes's eventual scoring jump came at a clutch moment for the CSC sophomore, who was in 11th place prior to the jump but advanced up to third at the time, allowing him three more attempts in the nine-jumper finals. 

Both Josh Body of Angelo State of Texas and Tre Betts of Pittsburg State of Kansas went 50-5 ½ for the best marks. Body received the gold medal because his second-best jump was an inch longer than Betts's second-best. Yacouba Gnacko of the Academy of Art in California was the bronze medalist at 50-5 ¼, just a quarter inch shy of the two top marks. 

The 50-3 ¼ jumps by Bynes and Isaiah Webster of Central Washington were the only others to go more than 50 feet.  Webster's second longest jump was an inch farther than Bynes's No. 2 leap, so Webster placed fourth and Bynes fifth. Anas Maghani of West Texas A&M was sixth at 50 feet even.

Bynes, a Chadron native and Chadron High School graduate, is the second ever Chadron State male to earn triple jump All-American honors. The first was Isaac Grimes, who was the silver medalist at the 2019 National Indoor Championships by going 51-8 ½ and set the school record. 

Bynes, who won the triple jump at Wayne State's Wildcat Classic in February by leaping 51-6 ½, has Chadron State's second longest triple jump in school history. He also qualified for the long jump at this year's National Indoor Championships and finished 13th at 23-1 ¼ on Friday. He had a best of 24-7 during the regular season.

The NCAA DII Indoor National Championships concluded on Saturday. Pittsburg State swept the team titles for both the men and women, winning the men's for the third year in a row. The rest of the men's top five featured Grand Valley State in second, RMAC schools Colorado School of Mines and Adams State in third and fourth, and NW Missouri State in fifth. On the women's side, Minnesota State was second, followed by Grand Valley State, Adams State and Azusa Pacific, with RMAC opponent CSU Pueblo in sixth.

Chadron State track and field will waste no time beginning the outdoor season, although their national qualifiers may not compete. The Eagles will compete at the Dan Caprioglio Invitational, hosted by CSU Pueblo, next weekend on March 21-22. 

Gehlhausen Earns National Runner-Up Finish

INDIANAPOLIS – Keegan Gehlhausen wrapped up a dominant junior season by advancing to the national championship match, eventually finishing as the 184-pound runner-up at the Division II NCAA National Championships on Saturday in Indianapolis. 

Gehlhausen, the No. 3 seed in the bracket, started the day with a massive 4-1 decision win over No. 2 seed Matt Weinberg of Kutztown, who entered the match with a 30-0 record. That put Gehlhausen in the championship final, where he fell to the No. 1 seed, West Liberty's Ty McGeary, via a 20-4 tech fall. 

With the victory, McGeary clinched his third consecutive national title at the weight. Gehlhausen denied a championship rematch by beating Weinberg, the defending national runner-up. Weinberg finished third at this year's competition.

By advancing to the second day of competition, Gehlhausen had already clinched All-American honors by sealing a top eight finish in the bracket. In advancing to the final, Gehlhausen becomes just the fourth Chadron State wrestler in program history to reach an NCAA Division II national championship match. 

Two of the other three are currently on the Eagles coaching staff – head coach Brett Hunter won national titles in 2007 and 2009 while Quen Campbell was the 133-pound runner-up two years ago in 2023. Josh Majerus lost in the 197-pound final in 2007 before returning to win it in 2008. Gehlhausen has an opportunity to replicate that path next year, as the redshirt junior has a year of eligibility remaining. 

After racking up the points on his way to two major decision victories in the first two rounds of the tournament, Gehlhausen relied on his defense to get past the semifinal round. Gehlhausen and Weinberg wrestled into scramble after scramble, with the two spending plenty of time on the ground but continuously locking into stalemates and not allowing the other to score. 

The match was tied 1-1, with both points coming on start-of-period escapes, when Gehlhausen made a decisive move to break a headlock and was able to wrangle a takedown from the ground with 25 seconds to go in the match. He remained on top of the rest of the way to win 4-1, with riding time not a factor. 

The win for Gehlhausen snapped a 30-match win streak for Weinberg, a three-time All-American, and gave Gehlhausen a shot at the nation's top 184-pounder, Ty McGeary. Gehlhausen and McGeary had faced off once before in the quarterfinals of the 2022-23 tourney, with Gehlhausen an unseeded, upstart redshirt freshman and McGeary yet to win any of his eventual three national titles. 

Ultimately, the West Liberty wrestler would not be denied on his quest to three-peat. Gehlhausen thwarted the top seed's attacks for the first 90 seconds, but McGeary soon scored a takedown plus a near fall to lead 7-1 after one period. Gehlhausen escaped to start the second to make it 7-2, but McGeary scored another takedown in the second and overpowered Gehlhausen in the third with three more takedowns to earn the 20-4 tech fall with 21 seconds left in the match. 

Despite Gehlhausen being the only Eagle to score team points, his run to the finals enabled CSC to finish 25th of 50 competing schools in the team standings. Nebraska-Kearney won the team title in runaway fashion, with UNK's 115.0 points nearly doubling second-place Augustana's 63.0. The rest of the top five went to St. Cloud State (57.5), Lander (56.0) and Central Oklahoma (55.5). Among RMAC schools, Colorado Mesa had the best finish (17th, 30.0), followed by Adams State (22nd, 21.0), Chadron State and Western Colorado (26th, 15.5). 

Gehlhausen finishes the 2024-25 season with a 22-3 record. 

Roadrunners Pull Away Late For Softball Wins

CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State softball fell 7-2 and 12-3 to MSU Denver in the first two games of a four-game series Saturday, with the Roadrunners using big late innings to turn tight contests into deceptively large final margins. 

The Eagles (9-15, 5-13 RMAC) trailed the Roadrunners (19-7, 14-3 RMAC) just 4-2 after five innings in both games, but MSU Denver outscored Chadron State 11-1 in the sixth and seventh combined across the doubleheader. 

Brogan Allen hit her third home run in her past five games to lead Chadron State offensively, while J'lyssa Martinez and Lauren Zimmerman also had an RBI each, with Zimmerman tallying three hits on the day. 

Tori Haug and Kenzi Garner each took losses in the circle, with freshman relievers Belle Akins and Destrie Greiman each pitching 1.1 innings out of the bullpen and giving up four runs. The Eagles struggled defensively in game one, committing four errors, but recovered to play errorless in game two. 

The Roadrunners took an early lead off Haug in game one, with two walks and a single loading the bases with two outs before Brookyln Enny cleared the bases with a double down the right-field line. 

Haug settled down after that, giving up only an unearned run over the next four innings. The Eagles scored two unearned runs of their own when a two-out fielding error allowed Sydney Loyet and Elizabeth Thorngren to score from second and third, respectively. Loyet went 2-for-3 and joined Zimmerman as the only Eagles with multiple hits in game one. 

After two singles and an error loaded the bases for MSU Denver in the sixth, Haug struck out Alexia Boring for the second out of the inning. But Jenna Geist came through with a two-run single to make it 6-2 Roadrunners, adding two more unearned runs on Haug's ledger. That was plenty of support for MSU Denver pitcher Natalie Romero, who scattered six hits with three strikeouts over a seven-inning effort. Romero did not allow an earned run.

Jenna Medhus was the star of game two for MSU Denver. The junior pitched a complete game, allowing three runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts while not walking a batter, and provided enough offensive firepower on her own to win the game with two home runs and four RBI. The Roadrunners hit four home runs in game two. 

The Eagles scored their runs on RBI singles from Lauren Zimmerman in the third and J'lyssa Martinez in the fifth before a pinch-hit solo home run from Allen in the seventh. Allen's three home runs, all of which have come in the last seven days, have the redshirt sophomore third on the team behind Zimmerman (seven) and Ashland Baca (five). 

Chadron State and MSU Denver will resume their four-game series tomorrow from the CSC softball field. First pitch for game one is set for 11 a.m.