24 Apr 2024 Harding runner named National Track Athlete of the Week

Posted at 2:22 PMh in Sports by

NEW ORLEANS — Things are heating up across the nation.

Dakarai Bush

Here are our M-F Athletic National Athletes of the Week in collegiate track & field for April 22, 2024.

  • co-NCAA Division I Men – T’Mars McCallum, Tennessee
  • co-NCAA Division I Men – Claudio Romero, LSU
  • NCAA Division I Women – Doris Lemngole, Alabama
  • NCAA Division II Men – Dakarai Bush, Harding
  • NCAA Division II Women – Kyla Davis, Pittsburg State
  • NCAA Division III Men – Justin Eichler, UW-Platteville
  • NCAA Division III Women – Grace Hadley, WPI
  • NAIA Men – Dustin Blevins, Montreat (N.C.)
  • NAIA Women – Emma Johnson, Columbia International (S.C.)
  • NJCAA Division I Men – Cyrus Ways, Indian Hills (Iowa) CC
  • NJCAA Division I Women – Cedricka Williams, Barton (Kan.) CC
  • NJCAA Division III Men – Kevin Diederich, College of DuPage (Ill.)
  • NJCAA Division III Women – Isabella Wojciechowski, Harper (Ill.)

NCAA DIVISION II MEN – Dakarai Bush, Harding

Fifth Year | Sprints
Tatum, Texas

Dakarai Bush is in postseason form. And that’s scary. 

The fifth-year student from Harding flew around the track to win the John McDonnell Invitational 400 meters in 45.79. Never mind the Division II rankings, that’s good enough for 19th in the entire NCAA right now. But anyone who’s been following Bush knows his capabilities. 

Last year, Bush attended the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships and ran a personal best to win the 400 meters in 45.67. He previewed that incoming mark in the prelims, running just three hundredths of a second off from that at 45.70. For reference, the next closest competitor that weekend failed to even crack the 46-second threshold. 

This is the second time in program history that an athlete from Harding has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Bush joins two-time honoree Josh Syrotchen who laid claim to the title on March 1 and April 4 of 2017.