SEARCY – Four members of the Harding men's track and field team received invitations to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Tuesday. The national meet will be May 27-29 in Allendale, Michigan.

Representing Harding in the 400-meter hurdles are freshman Fallou Gaye and freshman Nikolasz Csokas, and competing in the pole vault will be freshman Dorian Chaigneau and junior Austin Parrish.

The last time Harding had as many as four individuals selected for outdoor nationals was in 2006 – Przemek Bobrowski, Reed Fisher, Julius Kosgei and Artur Kern.

Below are notes on each competitor and their events:

Dorian Chaigneau, 5-7, 160, FR, Fontenay-le-Comte, France

·         2021 NCAA Division II Indoor National Champion in the pole vault (5.27m/17'3.5")

·         Seeded fourth in the outdoor competition with a season-best height of 5.30 meters

·         Harding's school record holder in the outdoor pole vault at 5.30 meters (17'4.5")

Austin Parrish, 5-11, 160, JR, Carthage, Texas

·         Seeded eighth with a season-best height of 5.20 meters (17'0.75")

·         Ranks second on Harding's top performers list in the outdoor pole vault

·         Only the second Harding pole vaulter to clear 17 feet outdoors

Harding in the pole vault at nationals

·         Chaigneau and Parrish are the first Harding athletes to compete in the pole vault at the national outdoor meet since David Rubio at the NAIA meet in 1992.

·         Chaigneau and Parrish are the fourth and fifth Harding athletes to compete in the pole vault at outdoor nationals, joining Ed van der Kaaij (1985, 1986), Jimmy Sloan (1988, 1991) and David Rubio (1992).

·         The highest height cleared by a Harding pole vault at outdoor nationals was 15 feet, 9 inches by van der Kaaij in 1985.

·         The highest finishes by a Bison was van der Kaaij's fourth-place finishes in 1985 and 1986. He earned All-America honors both years. Sloan was an All-American in 1988 with a seventh-place finish.

Fallou Gaye, 5-10, 150, FR, Dakar, Senegal

·         Seeded ninth with a season-best time of 51.96 at Arkansas

·         Harding school-record holder

Nikolasz Csokas, 6-4, 165, FR, Székesfehérvár, Hungary

·         Seeded 12th with a season-best time of 52.29 at Arkansas

·         Ranks third on Harding's top career performers list behind Gaye and Jon Newby

Harding in the 400-meter hurdles at nationals

·         Gaye and Csokas are the first Harding athletes to compete in the 400-meter hurdles at the outdoor national meet since Jason Thomas at the NAIA meet in 1996.

·         Gaye and Csokas are the fourth and fifth Harding athletes to compete in the 400-meter hurdles at outdoor nationals, joining Jon Newby (1991, 1992), Billy Edwards (1991) and Jason Thomas (1996)

·         The only Harding athlete to earn All-America in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles was Newby with a second-place finish in 1992.

·         Newby's time of 52.19 at the 1992 NAIA meet is the fastest time run by a Harding athlete at outdoor nationals.