SEARCY, Ark. – The Ouachita men's track team captured wins on both the track and in the field this week to finish third overall at the Great American Conference Championships, hosted by Harding.
One year removed from battling through debilitating pain, sophomore Rocco Patrick earned his spot back at the top of the podium. Patrick led the Tigers in the field events with three top five finishes to account for one-fourth of Ouachita's 88.5 scoring output.
Patrick delivered a clutch performance to capture the GAC title in the discus with a distance of 51.38 meters (168-7) on his sixth and final attempt. He added a runner-up finish in the hammer throw with a mark of 52.82 meters (173 feet, 4 inches) and continued his standout performance with a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 14.53 meters (47 feet, 8 inches). The victory caps a remarkable turnaround for Patrick, who competed through the 2025 season with two herniated discs in his lower back.
In February 2025, it was revealed Patrick had suffered two severe herniated discs, but he competed through the pain. After the season, Patrick met with a surgeon and ultimately underwent a microdiscectomy in May, an operation that provided immediate relief. That microdiscectomy took place nearly one year ago on May 22, which allowed Patrick to enter the 2026 season with a clear focus and high expectations in the hammer throw and the discus.
"Hammer has probably been my strongest event, but discus is right there with it, and I have high expectations in both," Patrick said earlier in March. "I've made big improvements since coming to Ouachita, especially in the hammer, and I feel like I'm continuing to get better across the board."
On the track, sophomore Aden Hecht paced the prelims on Thursday before he surged to a commanding victory in Friday's 400-meter hurdles finals. Hecht crossed the finish line in a record-breaking time of 51.38, winning the race by 2.20 seconds to etch his name into the GAC Championships record book. Hecht also added a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles at 15.06 to earn second-team honors.
Junior Bo Rogers followed Patrick's runner-up finish in the hammer to take third place with a throw of 50.84 meters (166 feet, 10 inches) on his second attempt. Rogers added a pair of eighth-place finishes in the shot put with a throw of 14.19 meters (46 feet, 6.75 inches) on his final attempt, plus the discus with a throw of 46.88 meters (153 feet, 10 inches).
Sophomore Isaac Chapman competed in the men's decathlon and finished third overall with a total of 6,210 points. Chapman claimed two wins in the field events, including the decathlon shot put with a throw of 13.67 meters (44 feet, 10.25 inches). He also won the decathlon discus event with a distance of 45.31 meters (148 feet, 8 inches) on his very first attempt.
Ouachita's sprinters added key points, highlighted by junior Gavin Rainey who claimed a win in his prelim race on Thursday, before he placed third in Friday's 400-meter dash finals at 47.94. Freshman Nathan Bradford finished in seventh place in the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.75. The 4x400 meter relay team featuring Bradford, Rainey, Mitchell Gage and Jameson Flatt capped the conference track meet with a runner-up finish in 3:13.61, sealing crucial points for the Tigers in the final event to place the men's team among the top three schools.
Sophomore Jones White also added a fifth-place finish in the mid-distance 800 meters with a time of 1:53.79. In the distance events, junior Tate Stacks placed fifth in the 10,000 meters run in 31:17.89. Freshman Henry Woods contributed by taking eighth-place in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:56.90.
Five Tigers earned First-Team All-GAC honors, led by champions Hecht and Patrick in their respective events, while Rogers (hammer throw) and Chapman (decathlon) also secured first-team recognition. Five additional athletes on the men's team earned second-team honors, reflecting Ouachita's depth at the GAC Championships.
