Owls' 1,600-meter relay sets season-best mark, advances to NAIA finals

William Woods' men's 1,600-meter relay team of seniors Tanner Edwards and Terrell Shannon, junior Nick Zink and sophomore Rhett Cook ran the the event's third-fastest preliminary time at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday.

The Owls' foursome ran a season-best time of 3 minutes, 12.49 seconds, earning NAIA All-American honors for a second straight season and qualifying for Saturday night's championship race. The quartet ran a school-record time of 3:11.79 at the 2013 outdoor meet to finish sixth and clocked a fifth-place time of 3:16.04 at the 2014 indoor championships.

Indiana Tech logged the fastest result in the preliminary with a time of 3:09.09, while Oklahoma Baptist's qualifying run of 3:11.94 was the second fastest. Wayland Baptist - the 2013 men's 1,600-meter relay national champions - finished just behind William Woods with a time of 3:12.97.

Zink took ninth in the men's 400, running a time of :48.07 to miss the national finals by just 0.02 seconds.

Junior Madeline Emme placed 24th in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Emme - a three-time outdoor national qualifier - crossed the finish line in :15.25 seconds to cap off a season in which she also finished ninth in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2014 NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships.