JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- In a little more than three hours on Saturday afternoon, Dickinson State senior Ramon Miller won three national championships.
The Bahamas native won the 200- and 400-meter sprints while anchoring the 1,600 relay team to its second consecutive title at the NAIA indoor track and field championships.
"It was alright to go out with three national championships," said a bashful Miller shortly after completing the relay.
Miller ran a time of 46.98 seconds to win his third consecutive title in the 400. He won his first championship in the 200 with at time of 20.97 seconds, just .08 shy of setting a new NAIA record.
In the 1,600 relay, the Blue Hawks ran without senior John Ingraham, who strained his hamstring on Friday. In his place, DSU inserted senior Ian Smith, who ran the third leg and helped the team win with a time of 3:13.17. Allan Ayala and Sean Pickstock ran the first two legs. They were on last year's team with Ingraham and Miller.
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Stanton called Miller's day one of the best individual efforts in DSU track and field history.
"It was a dominating performance by Ramon," DSU coach Pete Stanton said. "It was one of those special performances to watch in every event. He continues to shine and run so well and compete so hard. He's been fun to watch."
Miller's performance helped set up a strong finish for a Blue Hawk men's team.
DSU scored all 55 of its points on Saturday en route to a second-place finish. It was the most points the team has scored at the indoor championships and it was the first time the Blue Hawks have finished as the indoor runner-up. Azusa Pacific won the men's title with 78.5 points.
Helping out DSU were three second-place finishes.
Jamal Forbes finished as the runner-up in the 60 dash with a time of 6.81 seconds. He was edged by Union (Ky.) senior Johnnie Nabors, who ran a 6.80. DSU's Michael Sands took sixth in the race with a 6.91.
"It's such a game of inches and a game of seconds," Stanton said.
Sophomore Kurt McCormack finished runner-up to defending champion Illiyan Chamov of Lindenwood (Mo.) in the triple jump. Chamov leapt 50 feet, 7¼ inches on his final jump. McCormack's best jump was 50-2.
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Pickstock gave DSU -- and likely Miller -- an extra nudge in the 400 with a runner-up time of 47.83.
"I was very pleased with our performance all the way around," Stanton said.
The DSU women finished 11th overall with 11 points. Kelsey Aide (pole vault), Jessica Eaddy (weight throw) and Christa Hofland (weight throw) each earned All-American honors earlier in the meet. Hofland finished 16th in the shot put Saturday with a toss of 41-2¼.
"It was really exciting that our throwers, Christa and Jessica, had personal bests in the weight throw," Stanton said. "We were happy how we competed."
The Blue Hawks, who do not have a home meet this season because of the reconstruction efforts on Whitney Stadium, are idle until the Bauer Invitational in Rapid City, S.D., on March 28.
