Gainesville, Fla. – Senior Isaac Sytsma (Highland, Ind./Indiana Tech/Calumet St. Joseph, Highland) placed fifth in the finals of the 1000m with a time of 2:26.76 to earn NAIA All-American honors for the Saint Xavier University men's track & field team on the final day of the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships Saturday afternoon at the Alachua County Sport and Events Center in Gainesville, Fla. Sytsma broke his own school record in the preliminaries Friday afternoon posting a time of 2:26.26, the second-fastest qualifying time. He is the first Cougar athlete to come away with NAIA Indoor All-American honors since former standout Mario Scarcelli (2016-20) was an All-American in the 5000m in 2019-20. With his fifth-place finish, Sytsma earned four points for SXU, placing them in a three-way tie for 53^rd out of 66 teams. Marian University (Ind.) won the National Championship with a team score of 74 points.

• Senior Lendale Franklin (Chicago, Ill./Roosevelt/Argo Community) competed in the prelims of the 60m Hurdles, recording a time of 8.10 seconds, tied for his second-fastest career time Thursday afternoon.
• Also competing on Day One, the Distance Medley Relay Team of junior Rohindeep Bhattel (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence), junior Charlie Zufan (Orland Hill, Ill./Andrew), senior Jonathan Jacobo (Blue Island, Ill./Eisenhower) and Sytsma, along with alternates junior Myles Money (Crete, Ill./Marian Catholic) and senior Luke Snedden (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) established a new school record with their time of 10:05.99, almost four seconds quicker than the mark set two weeks ago, in the preliminaries.
• Senior Ronnie Foster (Peoria Heights, Ill./Peoria Heights) competed on Day Two in the Long Jump, recording a distance of 6.65m, finishing 17^th out of 21 jumpers.
• Senior Ayobami Arokoyo (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) saw action on the final day in the Shot Put, however he faulted on his three attempts.

Saint Xavier concludes the Indoor portion of its schedule and will return to action for the Outdoor season later this month.