Two from Drury compete at NCAA-II Track and Field Championships
The Drury track & field program has two individuals, including the first men's qualifier in program history, who will compete in the NCAA-II National Championships, held this weekend in Emporia, Kansas.
Drury men's runner Nolan Moeller qualified for the national championship in the 800-meter run. The freshman from Ozark set a program record and posted a national qualifying time on May 9 in the Harding Last Chance Meet in Searcy, Arkansas, with a time of 1:49.69. He broke the team record he owned by nearly two seconds. Moeller will become the first-ever men's track & field athlete from Drury to compete in the NCAA-II National Championships.
Moeller will run his preliminary heat on Friday at approximately 6 p.m.
Jolie McClellan also qualified for the national meet in the javelin. The senior from Raymore, Missouri, will be competing at the national meet for the second time. She also qualified for the national championships in 2022. McClellan posted a qualifying mark with a throw of 45.86 meters at the SBU Invitational on March 30.
The women's javelin competition is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Women's sprinter Ashley Childers set provisional qualifying times for the national championship in the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash but missed the top-24 cut to run in the preliminary heats. Childers, a senior from Ozark, owns the Drury record in both events.
Pitcher Cody Bahl named All-Midwest Region
Drury starting pitcher Cody Bahl was named a Second Team All-Region selection by the National College Baseball Writers Association.
Bahl went 4-3 with a 3.43 earned run average after 16 appearances and 13 starts. The senior from Lee's Summit, Missouri, pitched 89.1 innings and recorded 91 strikeouts while walking only 23. Bahl threw only one wild pitch during the season and allowed a .246 opposing batting average. He was the GLVC Pitcher of the Week for March 11-17 after he fired a complete-game, threehit shutout against Missouri S&T.
Bahl was also named a First Team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection this season. Last year, he also earned all-conference honors and was an honorable mention all-region pick.
The Panthers went 27-25 and finished third in the GLVC with a 23-13 mark in the league.
DU men’s swimming has two named Academic All-Americans
Two members of the Drury men's swimming & diving team were named Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) earlier this year. Cole Earl was named a First Team Academic AllAmerican, and Alejandro Villarejo was named to the Third Team.
Earl was named to the Academic AllAmerican First Team in 2023-24. The senior from Springfield-Glendale was the NCAA-II Runner-Up in 3-meter diving and finished fourth nationally in the 1-meter event. He is an Accounting major and posted a 3.93 grade point average.
Alejandro Villarejo was a Third Team Academic All-American selection. Villarejo finished in the top 10 at the NCAAII national championship in six different events. Villarejo is a Business major with a 3.86 GPA.