Asheville, North Carolina – The Central Methodist men's track & field program capped a strong showing at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships held May 20-22 in Asheville, North Carolina.
Central posted a seventh-place finish in the final team standings and earned 10 NAIA All-Americans during the three-day meet. The Eagles were powered by standout performances across the sprints, hurdles, middle distance and relay events, highlighted by a national runner-up finish in the men's 4x400-meter relay and an individual bronze medal from senior hurdler Cortney Watkins.
Watkins opened the championship meet by posting the fastest preliminary time in the 110-meter hurdles at 13.82 seconds, setting a new personal best, school record, and moving to No. 1 on the NAIA performance list for 2026. In the finals, the senior earned All-America honors with a third-place finish in 14.04 seconds.
Senior Wilton George ran in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles, finishing 20th after running a time of 14.83 seconds.
Freshman Tyrone Summerall continued his breakout season in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking a personal-best 51.25 in the prelims before securing All-America status with a fifth-place finish in the finals at 51.56. Sophomore Logan Bass also earned All-America recognition in the event, placing seventh overall after qualifying with a personal-best 51.96 in preliminaries.
The Eagles dominated the 800-meter run with two All-Americans. Junior Corlando Chambers delivered a third-place finish in 1:50.90, while fellow junior Oliver Cabana followed closely in fourth with a time of 1:51.69. Cabana advanced to the finals after running a personal-best 1:49.47 in the prelims, which is a new school record.
In the field events, junior Brian Shine added another All-America performance for CMU in the triple jump, placing seventh with a mark of 14.82 meters (48-7.50), breaking a 25-year old school record. Azaan Stoughtenborough also competed for the Eagles in the event, finishing 18th with a leap of 14.40 meters.
Central Methodist closed the championships with one of the top performances of the meet in the men's 4x400-meter relay. The quartet of Bass, Isaac Lawson, Chambers and Summerall combined for a season-best 3:10.48 to finish as national runner-up and earn All-America honors. The relay squad qualified for the finals with a season-best 3:09.95 in preliminaries, a new school record.
The Eagles also qualified for the finals in the men's 4x100-meter relay, as Che Wickham, Charles Young, Isaac Lawson and Wilton George posted a season-best 40.25 in prelims. The group was unable to finish the final after a strong run throughout the postseason.
Lawson narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in the open 400-meter dash, finishing ninth overall in preliminaries with a personal-best 47.05.
#TakeFlight
