The Park University indoor track & field team have representatives from both the men's and women's track & field teams this season that will compete at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Brookings, S.D. on Thursday, March 2 through Saturday, March 4.  

On the men's side, Park will have the 4x800m relay team, or the 3,200m relay team, take the starting blocks on Thursday for the preliminary event at 4pm. The combination of Alexander Caines, Timothy Caines, Tom Schroeder, and Ethan Willmann has been a successful one, as they placed 2^nd at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship on February 17.

Not only was their time of 7:51.54 a qualifying time to nationals, but it also is a Park indoor school record. Manuel Reyes will also be traveling with the team as an alternate.

Four of the five members of the relay team are new to Park this season and have had a fantastic debut, gaining chemistry on the track meet by meet, just in time for the main event of the season. Their performance at the conference meet, named them Second Team Heart All-Conference.

Park's women's squad has two individuals that have tore through 2023 at blazing speeds in Jena Hahlbeck and Shelby Birmingham.

Birmingham has caught her stride in 2023 with impressive showings in the 200m and 400m events all season. She is going to nationals for both these sprints and will be appearing in her first NAIA national championship event.

She is coming off personal records in both events at the Heart indoor championships, running a 24.81 in the 200m and a 58.41 in the 400m. Not only did her time of 24.81 meet the NAIA "A" standard, but it also is a Park indoor school record. Her efforts at Heart Championship earned her Second and Third Team All-Conference awards.

She will compete in Brookings on Friday at 1:05 pm in the 400m prelim and the 200m prelim later that day at 4:40pm.

Hahlbeck is the only Pirate to make a return to nationals. This will be her second straight appearance to the national lanes. Last year, she competed in the 600m event, placing 10^th. This year, she qualified for both the 600m and the 800m, but with the difficulty of running both back-to-back, she will only run in the 800m.

In the 800m she ran for the NAIA "A" qualifying standard and for a Park indoor school record with a time of 2:15.52 at the 2023 Bearcat Invite hosted by Northwest Missouri State University. In the 800m, her time ranks fifth among her fellow 800m qualifiers entering nationals.

 It would a couple weeks later that Hahlbeck would become an 800m champion and 1^st and 2^nd Team All-Conference in the 800m and 600m, respectively.
The Park Hill High School graduate is slated for a 2:45pm start on Thursday for the 800m prelim.

The Pirates also celebrate the following 2023 Heart Indoor Track & Field All-Conference award winners.

Name	Award	Event	Mark
Jena Hahlbeck	1st Team	800m	2:20.82
Jena Hahlbeck	2nd Team	600m	1:34.67
T. Caines, A. Caines, Willmann, Schroeder	2nd Team	4x800m Relay	7:51.54
Shelby Birmingham	2nd Team	200m	24.81
Shelby Birmingham	3rd Team	400m	58.41
Birmingham, Hahlbeck, Sweeting, Anderson	Honorable Mention	W 4x400m Relay	4:07.38
Slominski, Evans, Housh, T. Caines	Honorable Mention	M 4x400m Relay	3:23.41
Figueroa, Preston, Reyes, Schroeder	Honorable Mention	Distance Medley	10:50.63
Shanai Sweeting	Honorable Mention	60m Hurdles	9.53