McBride anchors Mount Union to 4 x 400 national championship
May 27—The location of the competition didn't matter too much on Saturday afternoon as Mount Union's Matt McBride, a Conneaut High School graduate, anchored his 4 x 400 meter relay to the NCAA Division III national championship in Rochester, N.Y.
McBride passed numerous teams last year at SPIRE Academy in Harpersfield Township to win the relay and wanted desperately to defend the title this year.
"I'll be honest. I was very nervous going into the 4 x 4," he said in a text interview shortly after the race.
"We really wanted to defend the title and had to go up against of bunch of great teams. I'm proud of my teammates and love this team," he said.
The Purple Raiders' included Jason Storm, Tyler Gill, Justin Knock and McBride and together they ran 3:07.24 to fend off Claremont-Mudd Scripps by .54 seconds
McBride also narrowly missed a national championship in the 400 meters running a 46.04, finishing .11 seconds behind Galludet's Eric Gregory.
"I'm so proud of what I was able to accomplish in the open 400," McBride said.
McBride moved from fourth last year to second this year and plans to continue to strive for further achievement next year.
McBride intends to use another year of eligibility he has available after the coronavirus pandemic.
"I am going to be running at Mount again and I can't wait to see what else I can accomplish," he said.
McBride won the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II 400 meter state championship in 2019 and then had his college freshman year of track shut down by the pandemic.
McBride followed in the footsteps of his father Bob McBride, who also ran the 400 meters for the Spartans.
