PUEBLO, Colo. – Chayton Bynes set an outdoor personal best and broke his own school record but missed the finals by 0.05 meters to finish 10th in an extraordinary triple jump competition at the Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl. 

After a scratch on his first attempt, Bynes improved to 15.48 meters (50 feet, 9.5 inches) on his second jump and 15.60 meters (51-2.25) on his third. The latter jump broke Bynes's previous outdoor season best, career best and Chadron State school record of 15.54 meters (51-0).

On a day where half the competitors (11 of 22) set personal bests, Bynes was agonizingly close to a top nine spot that would have given him three more jumps in the finals. Bynes can still boast two top 10 national finishes in the triple jump this year, after the redshirt sophomore previously finished fifth in the triple jump at the DII Indoor Championships. 

The Chadron native still earns Second Team All-American honors by finishing in ninth through 12th place at nationals. Bynes becomes the second CSC athlete to earn second-team honors at this year's meet, joining senior Nicquaine Henry, who finished 11th in the 400 hurdles on Thursday. 

Ultimately, Bynes's 10th-place finish matches his seed entering the tournament, as the sophomore's 15.54 mark was tied for 10th in the nation. Athletes up and down the competition raised the bar in 2025, as Bynes's mark of 15.60 would have been good for seventh at last year's national meet. 

Pittsburg State's Tre Betts defended his 2024 outdoor title with a personal-best leap of 16.46 meters (54 feet even), the fourth-longest jump in Division II history. Washburn's Justin Forde and Wilmington's Dante Dockery tied for second at 16.19 meters (53-1.5), with Forde taking runner-up honors because his second-longest jump was farther. 

Overall, 16 of 22 competitors cleared 50 feet, with five jumping 52 feet or more. 

Division II nationals will conclude on Saturday. The Eagles have one more competitor – freshman sensation Trace Hanchett, the school record holder in the javelin. Hanchett will enter as the No. 15 seed out of 22 competitors with his season-best mark of 66.93 meters (219 feet, 7 inches). 

The javelin competition is due to begin at 2:45 p.m. (MT). Hanchett will compete in the first of two flights. 

Hanchett Hangs On For Second Team, Finishes 12th

PUEBLO, Colo. – Trace Hanchett earned Second Team All-American honors to cap off his true freshman season, finishing in 12th place in the javelin with a throw of 65.38 meters (214 feet, 6 inches) at the Division II Outdoor National Championships in Pueblo, Colorado. 

Entering the competition as the No. 15 seed out of 22 competitors, Hanchett placed fourth of 11 in the first of two flights, leading to a nervous wait throughout the second flight to see if Hanchett's mark would be good enough to qualify for the finals. 

Heading into the final attempt of flight two, Hanchett was clinging to the ninth and last finals spot, but three higher-seeded javelin throwers found better marks on their third attempts. Hanchett still hung on to the final All-American place, with Second Team All-America honors going to the ninth through 12th place finishers in each event at the national meet. 

That makes it a trifecta of Second Team All-Americans for the Chadron State program, as all three Eagle national qualifiers this year finished in that 9-12 window. Previously, Nicquaine Henry placed 11th in the 400 hurdles on Thursday and Chayton Bynes placed 10th in the triple jump on Friday.

With three outdoor Second Team All-Americans this season, Chadron State doubles their all-time total in program history (Second Team All-Americans were introduced in 2016). The three All-American selections (of any team) are CSC's most since 2017.

Hanchett's scoring mark came on his first throw of the competition. The mark of 65.38 (214-6) is the third-farthest throw of both Hanchett's season and the history of the Chadron State program. The throw was about five feet shy of Hanchett's PB/school record of 66.93 (219-7), but still far exceeds Deron Dolfi's 1986 mark of 206-8, which had stood as the CSC school record for nearly 40 years prior to Hanchett's emergence this year. 

Hanchett's heave was the sixth-farthest among the 22 competitors on each contestant's first attempt. In the first flight, Hanchett was sitting in second place after his first-round throw.

The Philipsburg, Kansas native threw 60.88 meters (199-9) on his second attempt. Hanchett fouled on his third attempt, but it would not have had the distance to improve his mark had it counted. 

Hanchett finished the event as the top RMAC placer and the second-highest freshman placer. East Stroudsburg freshman Luke Stevenosky finished seventh. 

Pittsburg State's Caleb Calvin, who entered the competition as the No. 1 seed, won the national title. As the last to throw in the finals, Calvin already had the championship locked up before his final attempt, but still improved on his final throw to finish with a mark of 75.94 meters (249-2). The cutoff to get into the finals was 66.49 meters (218-1). 

Pittsburg State won the men's team national title for the fourth consecutive year, ahead of West Texas A&M, Grand Valley State, Wingate and Harding. On the women's side, Grand Valley State edged out RMAC foe Adams State by a single point, with the Grizzlies finishing as runners-up for the second straight year, followed by Pittsburg State and a tie for fourth between West Texas A&M and Fresno Pacific.