The Park University indoor track & field programs took it to another level at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday in Maryville, Mo. hosted at Northwest Missouri State University. The Pirates men's team took home the ultimate prize as the 2026 Heart Indoor Track & Field Champions with six individual champions. The team won with 174 points, 62 points higher than the second place MidAmerica Nazarene University Pioneers. The Park women had one Heart Champion and were 4th place with 66 points.

This is Park's second men's track & field conference championship, which last happened in 2006, while the Pirates earn their first Heart Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship. Coach Rikki Hacker is a two-time coach of the year for men's cross country, but now adds Heart Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year to his accomplishments as well.

In all, there were 33 Heart All-Conference performers for the Pirates, 22 on the men's side and 11 on the women's side. 1st through 3rd place determine 1st Team, 2nd Team, and 3rd Team All-Conference; while Honorable Mention is awarded in all events to the 4th through 6th place student-athletes.

Cody Hammond was one of the Heart Conference Champions in the mile with a 4:18.28, but contributed in many other ways, scoring the most points of any male athlete in the entire conference field with 30 points. For his outstanding performances, he was named the Heart Men's Track Athlete of the Meet. He is no stranger to the big moments and according to Central Heights High School, at the 2025 Kansas state track meet, he won the 800m, 1600m, and 4x800m relay, while placing third in the 3200m. To make it even better, he had a cast on his left hand for the entire state meet. He was a major piece of Central Heights' 2A state championship team. Hammond has continued the success at the college level and was 2nd Team Heart All-Conference in the 800m and also took 3rd place in both the 600m and 1,000m events.

The middle to long distance events were locked up by the Pirates with Alexander Caines winning the 800m event with a 1:53.85, Palmer O'Connor taking the 1,000m title with a 2:27.07, Cayden Walker crossing 1st in the 3,000m in a time of 8:38.41, and Caden Peters the Heart Champ in the 5,000m with a 14:54.97. It's no wonder that just this fall, the bulk of these Pirates were also part of the 2025 Heart Cross Country Championship team. 

The senior, Alexander Caines put up numbers with 1st in the 800m event and 2nd in the 600m. Ironically, it was the other way around for Caines last year. His title this year makes him a three-time individual indoor title holder from the Heart Championships, as he also was the 600m champ in 2024. This year he was also 2nd in the 1,000m and helped the 4x400m team to a 3rd Team All-Conference run.

The 1,000m has been claimed by O'Connor the last two seasons and the sophomore from De Soto, Kan. is now two for two for the indoor 1,000m Heart championship. 

It's the first Heart title for Cayden Walker of his young career, as the sophomore from Gypsum, Kan. took 1st in the 3,000m. He broke through in 2026 with 15 seconds difference between last year's time. In 2025, he still was in great position with all-conference honorable mention awards in the 3,000m and the 5,000m. This year, he raised the bar in the 5,000m and took 2nd with a 14:55.55.

Walker was 2nd behind his teammate Caden Peters, who is the Heart Champion in the 5,000m in his Heart indoor championship debut. In his first year at Park, he already has two Heart individual championships to his name, as the 2025 Heart Cross Country individual champion. He made some noise in other events, including 2nd place behind the other Cayden in the 3,000m and was Heart All-Conference Honorable Mention in the mile and the 1,000m events.

Sam Thomas is the final individual Heart champion on the men's side, going the distance in the long jump for 7.41m. This ties Ahmad Evans for the indoor school record in the long jump. Evans was up there with Thomas with a 7.24m mark for 2nd place. Thomas hit the NAIA "A" standard in the long jump and was part of the third place 4x400m relay team. Just this past spring he scored the most points at the Heart Outdoor championship with Central Methodist and has since found a place at Park for the 2025-26 season.

For Rosjai Curtis, only a sophomore, now has four Heart individual titles to her credit. This past year she was the indoor conference champ in the long jump, triple jump, and 60m. This year she took home hardware in the long jump as the Heart Champion with a distance of 5.94m. She was also 2nd Team Heart All-Conference in the Triple Jump with a mark of 11.64.

See the full results for Park at the Heart Championships, RESULTS. The Pirates have a full crew of NAIA Indoor National Championship qualifiers, which will take place March 5-7 at Alachua County Sports & Events Center at Celebration Pointe in Gainesville, Fla.



 

Heart Championships
60 Meters
Prelims 2 — Van Forbes Jr — 6.78 *NAIA B 8 — Sam Thomas — 6.91 12 — Ahmad Evans — 6.96 Finals 2 — Van Forbes Jr — 6.74 *NAIA B 8 — Sam Thomas — 6.93	Prelims 3 — Mya Charles — 7.67 12 — Alexandria Sherman — 7.99 15 — Hannah Mand — 8.07 — Rosjai Curtis — FS Finals 3 — Mya Charles — 7.63 *NAIA B
200 Meters
3 — Van Forbes Jr — 21.67 8 — Niran Warde — 22.05 14 — Sam Thomas — 22.60	16 — Alexandria Sherman — 26.79 — Mya Charles — DNF
400 Meters
2 — Niran Warde — 48.12 *NAIA B 8 — Chase Housh — 49.05 14 — Sam Thomas — 49.53	11 — Hope Klamm — 59.36 13 — Faith Klamm — 1:00.02
600 Meters
2 — Alexander Caines — 1:18.56 *NAIA A, NAIA B 3 — Cody Hammond — 1:19.82 *NAIA B 9 — Niran Warde — 1:21.99 14 — Shemar Caines — 1:23.32	6 — Lilly Comarcho — 1:38.35 9 — Anna Joyce — 1:39.42 11 — Adison Hayden — 1:43.55 16 — Hannah Mand — 1:48.93
800 Meters
1 — Alexander Caines — 1:53.85 2 — Cody Hammond — 1:54.06 12 — Palmer O'Connor — 1:59.12 17 — Ian Walsh — 2:16.88	4 — Lilly Comarcho — 2:22.95 8 — Anna Joyce — 2:34.95
1000 Meters
1 — Palmer O'Connor — 2:27.07 *NAIA B 2 — Alexander Caines — 2:27.77 *NAIA B 3 — Cody Hammond — 2:28.31 5 — Caden Peters — 2:29.07 13 — Thore Wegner — 2:38.82 14 — Ian Walsh — 2:40.12	2 — Anna Joyce — 3:02.37
Mile
1 — Cody Hammond — 4:18.28 4 — Caden Peters — 4:19.11 7 — Cayden Walker — 4:24.38	7 — Charlotte Timba — 5:20.35 9 — Anna Joyce — 5:27.29
3000 Meters
1 — Cayden Walker — 8:38.41 2 — Caden Peters — 8:40.15 8 — Palmer O'Connor — 8:47.51 10 — William Norris — 8:51.92	12 — Charlotte Timba — 11:00.25
5000 Meters
1 — Caden Peters — 14:54.97 2 — Cayden Walker — 14:55.55 9 — William Norris — 15:20.38 14 — John Mattivi — 15:50.38
3000 Race Walk
9 — Jabari Ford — 20:03.33	8 — Yasmine Rutledge — 24:44.33
60m Hurdles
Prelims 13 — Niran Warde — 8.75	Prelims 4 — Hope Klamm — 8.83 9 — Faith Klamm — 9.16 Finals 4 — Hope Klamm — 8.79 *NAIA B
4 x 400 Relay
3 — Park U. (Niran Warde, Sam Thomas, Alexander Caines, Chase Housh) — 3:16.46 *NAIA B	3 — Park U. (Hope Klamm, Faith Klamm, Desi Holbrook, Adison Hayden) — 3:58.59
4 x 800 Relay
7 — Park U. (Ian Walsh, Chase Housh, Thore Wegner, Palmer O'Connor) — 8:08.18	6 — Park U. (Charlotte Timba, Hannah Mand, Sophia Van Asselt, Anna Joyce) — 10:19.84
Distance Medley Relay
8 — Park U. (John Mattivi, Jaden Reed, Ian Walsh, William Norris) — 10:52.07	5 — Park U. (Charlotte Timba, Hannah Mand, Adison Hayden, Jasmin Klaunig) — 13:20.67
Long Jump
1 — Sam Thomas — 7.41m / 24' 3.75" *NAIA A, NAIA B 2 — Ahmad Evans — 7.24m / 23' 9" *NAIA B 6 — Shemar Caines — 6.91m / 22' 8"	1 — Rosjai Curtis — 5.94m / 19' 6" *NAIA A, NAIA B 5 — Dawn McIntyre — 5.58m / 18' 3.75" 17 — Jayden Demeritte — 4.57m / 15' 0"
Triple Jump
3 — Ahmad Evans — 14.56m / 47' 9.25" *NAIA B	2 — Rosjai Curtis — 11.64m / 38' 2.25" *NAIA B
Shot Put
16 — Daniel Marshall — 12.98m / 42' 7"	20 — Safi Veronique — 10.10m / 33' 1.75"