Neeia Cooperwood earned NAIA All-America honors with a fifth place finish in the women’s long jump at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships.

Neeia Cooperwood, a senior from Omaha, Neb., earned NAIA All-America honors for the eighth time in her career with a fifth place finish in the women’s long jump on Friday at the 2015 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

Cooperwood had a distance of 18-6 on her third attempt to finish just 1/2 inch out of fourth place behind Alyssa Neal of Warner Pacific University. 

Aside from her All-America performance in the long jump, Cooperwood also used a school-record breaking effort to advance to Saturday’s final in the 400-meters and qualified for Saturday’s 200-meter final as well.

Cooperwood won her 400-meter preliminary heat with a school-record time of 56.05 seconds to break her former Mustang standard of 56.25 she ran earlier this season at the University of Nebraska’s Frank Sevigne Invitational. Cooperwood’s time in the prelims is the third fastest among the finalists behind Orenthia Bennett (55.81) of Southern University at New Orleans and Jenna Moody (55.87) of St. Francis University. 

She won her heat in the 200-meter prelims with a time of 24.39 seconds for the third fastest time among the finalists behind Alexis Browner (23.96) of Wayland Baptist University and Shayla France (24.32) of Indiana Tech University.

The Mustangs’ Jay Welp, a senior from Marcus, Iowa, advanced from Friday’s prelims in the men’s 1000-meter run to qualify for Saturday’s final. Welp won his preliminary heat with a time of 2:27.67 for the third fastest time among the finalists behind reigning NAIA National Champion Hans Roelle (2:25.74) of Eastern Oregon University and Ayoub Akil (2:26.41) of Oklahoma Baptist University.

Eric Koithan, a senior from Mapleton, Iowa, also competed in the men’s 1000-meter prelims. Koithan finished sixth in his heat and 16th overall with a time of 2:33.34.

Dan Larscheid, a senior from Bondurant, Iowa, competed in the prelims of the men’s 3000-meters. Larscheid finished 10th in his heat and 15th overall with a time of 8:51.87.