The Bruins track and field team embarked on a mission to leave the NCCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships with success and no regrets. It was the final collegiate meet for a few athletes and a stepping stone for others. Hardware was brought home and two more national champions were added to the list in the Bruins short 14 year history. 

"We came into this meet with a clear mission: compete at a higher level than our program has ever done," Head Coach Ken Roach said. "Between two national champions, an All-American battle in the 10k, and the character our athletes showed, this is the foundation for excellence at Bob Jones University. This is how we build champions who honor God with their minds, bodies, and spirits."

The tone for the meet was set on Thursday evening when senior Leo Mota took the track one final time in the men's 100 meter dash. He lined up against some of the nation's best and capped off his career with a time of 11.24 seconds. His hard work and dedication to the sport and to the team will be appreciated for a long time.

Will Stark was next in the 200 meter dash preliminaries. While Stark's focus was the 400 meter dash, he still raced hard and was able to make it to the finals with a time of 22.00 seconds.

The highlight of Thursday night was the display of excellence that Lauren Jones showed in the women's 10k. Her time of 40:34 put her as the second place finisher and just the second All-American in women's program history. The extended story of this historic race can be found here.

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The first event for the Bruins on Friday was the men's 3k steeplechase where Jacob Doshier and Judah Nash took the track to compete. Doshier's eighth place finish and time of 10:24 was good enough to score a point for the Bruins. Only six second separated him from fifth place. Nash finished in 10th place at 10:34.

A little while later, Will Stark was back on the track in his favorite event, the men's 400 meter dash. He was the second seed coming in and he knew what he had to do to win. He was able to edge out all competition and become a national champion. This is the second time in the last four years that a Bruin has won this event (Brian Sims, 2023). The story of how this race went down can be found here.

Joel Batres-Mena was next in the men's 800 meter race, an event which the whole field seemed to struggle in. Nearly every participant ran a couple seconds slower than their seeded-time, but Batres-Mena still had a strong finish. His time of 1:59 gave him an eighth place finish and a point for the Bruins.

Misha Gray and Dillon Koop competed next in the men's 400 meter hurdles. Koop raced first in the second of three heats and ran so well. He set a personal best time of 58.18 seconds which gave him a seventh place finish.

Gray raced in the final heat of the men's 400 meter hurdles as the third seed. His time wasn't that far from the top two competitors, so he went into the race to win. With his family watching, he delivered the best performance of his career in his final collegiate meet and became a national champion with a first place time of 55.44 seconds. The story of this performance the minor drama that took place can be found here.

Still a little sore and tired from his 400 meter dash, Stark was back again in the men's 200 meter dash final to end a great weekend for the Bruins. He ran a safe race so his hamstring wouldn't get damaged and still came in sixth place with a time of 22.47 seconds.

Two National Champions, an All-American, and several other top eight finishes mark the end of the 2025-26 season for Bruins athletics. That is the Bruins excellence.