VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. --- Tusculum University senior sprinter Zackary Nelson placed ninth in the finals of the men's 400 meters at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship Saturday at the Virginia Beach Sports Center.

Running in the first of three sections in the finals, Nelson was timed at 47.88 seconds which was slightly behind his qualifying time of 47.84 seconds from Friday. The 400 finals were expanded from eight to nine runners after the protest committee disqualified a runner following preliminaries and allowed the runner who was affected to participate in the finals as an extra qualifier.

As a result of the decision to add the ninth runner, and with the results from Saturday's race, Nelson was shut out from the awards podium and unable to earn a team point for the Pioneers in the final standings. Tusculum would have tied for 50th place had Nelson earned an eighth-place point in the 400.

With his ninth-place result, Nelson will receive second-team All-America honors when the list of awards winners is released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Pittsburg State won the men's team championship with 86 points, followed by Adams State (42 points), Grand Valley State (29 points) and a three-way tie for fourth with 26 points between Academy of Art, Missouri Southern and West Texas A&M.