KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Ten Montana Tech student-athletes are headed to Florida at the end of the month for national competition.

The NAIA announced the full field for the 2025 U.S. Marines NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championship, set for February 27-March 1 at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center in Gainesville, Fla.

Five Oredigger men — Morgan McClernan, Matthew Moreni, Adam Schrader, Cade VanVleet, and Will Wagner — and five women — Rylee Armstrong, Kamryn Comba, Ayla Janzen, Alyssa Plant, and Jadyn Vermillion — will represent Montana Tech at the championship meet.

Vermillion headlines Tech's selections with the fifth-best women's long jump in the country this indoor season and the Oredigger women's only NAIA 'A' standard of the campaign. The senior from Myrtle Creek, Ore. posted her program-record 5.80-meter jump February 7 at Idaho State's Stacy Draglia Open. It will be Vermillion's third-straight indoor national appearance; she was 16th in the event in 2024 and 27th in 2023.

Armstrong, a sophomore from Lewistown, will join Vermillion in the long jump field. She leapt 5.67 meters January 31 in Bozeman to land 16th in the nation. This will be Armstrong's first indoor national appearance. She was 24th in the event at NAIA outdoor nationals last spring.

Comba, a junior from Idaho Falls, Idaho, made her case in the 600m run, racing the distance in 1:36.25 January 24 at Idaho's Lauren McCluskey Memorial. That time ranks 22nd in the NAIA headed into the postseason. It will be Comba's second-career appearance at nationals; she finished 10th a season ago in the 600m and also raced for Tech's distance medley relay.

Janzen, a freshman, made the meet in the 60m hurdles, racing in 8.82 seconds February 7 at Idaho State. The Twin Bridges product's altitude-converted time of 8.84 ranks 25th in the country headed into her nationals debut.

Plant, a graduate student from Helena, was a late addition to the meet in the 3,000m run. The Frontier Conference women's cross country champion qualified with her collegiate-best time of 10:43.77, putting her as the No. 13 seed in the meet.

VanVleet makes his return to the national stage in the men's shot put. The Noxon native's 16.66m throw December 5 in Bozeman put him ninth on the NAIA leaderboard this season and set Tech's indoor program record. The junior was 24th in the event at last year's indoor nationals.

Schrader, McClernan, Moreni, and Wagner make up the Orediggers' 4x400m relay, which heads into nationals with the 25th-best time in the country at 3:18.01. The quartet set that mark (and a program record) Friday in Spokane, Wash. They will be the first men's relay, indoor or outdoor, in Montana Tech history to compete at a national meet.

Tech's 10 qualifiers tied a program record for the most qualifiers in a single national meet, indoor or outdoor.

The relay will kick off Tech's presence at the championships, running preliminary heats at 2:15 p.m. MST February 27 on the meet's opening day. 

Click here to purchase tickets for the 2025 U.S. Marines NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championship.

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Montana Tech All-Time NAIA Indoor Track & Field Qualifiers

Men
2023 -     Payton Cates (HJ), Edwin Kipainoi (3,000m)  
2024 – Braden Anderson (SP), Nicolo Lancini (TJ*), Jesse Mecham (SP), Drake Schlacter (HJ), Cade VanVleet (SP) 

Women 
2021 – Becca Richtman (3,000m*) 
2022 - Natylia Jacobson (60m), Becca Richtman (1-mile^, 3,000m^, 5,000m*) 
2023 – Abby Clark (Pent*, HJ), Natylia Jacobson (60m), Jadyn Vermillion (LJ)  
2024 – Abby Clark (Pent*), Kamryn Comba (600m, DMR), Carlin Manning (5k, DMR), MaKenzie Sheils (DMR), Jadyn Vermillion (LJ), Peyton Walker (DMR)

^ National Champion
* All-American