However, the soon-to-be second-semester senior will not be eligible for his final season of competition.

The Augsburg track and field star is banned by the NCAA.

Mohammed Bati announced on Christmas Eve that he will not be allowed to finish out his career. He was deemed ineligible to compete during his final indoor and outdoor seasons with Augsburg.

The ruling stems from financial assistance.

Bati is a nursing major. He struggled to make ends meet while working overnight shifts at an assisted living facility. His options were to not pay his tuition and drop out of school or ask for help. He chose the latter.

The local community raised $6,000 for Bati to pay his tuition. That allowed him to continue at Agsburg but it also ended his track and field career.

“I don’t think some NCAA rules are fair to everyone. I want to share something real today.

Last semester I was struggling a lot with money. I didn’t want to drop out or stop going to school, and the community around me came together to support me. People helped me with around $6000 so I could pay for that semester. I’m still grateful for that it was love, it was support, not anything big or business or something bad. Just people helping someone who needed it.

But the NCAA saw that support and said it was a violation. Because of that, I can’t run indoor or outdoor this year. They said someone paying for my school breaks the rule. I understand that’s their rule, but I don’t think they look at the story behind it. Sometimes people get help because life is hard. Not everyone has money. Sometimes it’s just one moment, one time, trying to survive and move forward.

It feels sad that instead of seeing support as community love, it’s seen as something wrong. I didn’t get paid. I didn’t get something crazy. Just help to stay in school. And because of that, I’m not allowed to run. That part is not easy to accept. I worked hard. I love running. I wanted to run this season with my teammates, make memories in my last year.

But even with all this, I’m still grateful. I’m thankful for everyone who helped me, who believed in me. I’ve been through a lot in life, and this is just another challenge. It will not break me. I’m not disappearing, I’m still here, still training, still smiling, still fighting for my dreams.

Sometimes rules don’t see the human behind the story. But I hope one day, things like helping someone won’t be a reason to stop them from doing what they love.

Thank you to my community, thank you to everyone who supports me. I will keep going.”

— Mohammed Bati on Strava

There is one key detail to note here. Division-III athletes are allowed to earn money through NIL.

Athletes at any level can be paid for endorsements, sponsored posts on social media, appearances, etc. Everything goes as long as the compensation is tied to the commercial use of the athlete’s name or image.

Athletes cannot receive outside financial assistance that functions as tuition support or additional athletic benefit unless it fits within the specific financial aid structure or NIL guidelines set by the NCAA. Mohammed Bati’s $6,000 gift did not qualify. It was more like emergency financial support.

As a result, he will not be allowed to finish out his college track and field career.

The NCAA guidelines on NIL are supposed to to prevent a pay-for-play system, even though it has been abused to the fullest extend on the Division-I level. Especially for football and basketball. Some athletes are making seven-figure salaries through “NIL” agreements. Bati’s money was not tied to this kind of agreement so it was technically illegal.

JAMESTOWN — If you know anything about Annie Nabwe, you know she is never satisfied.

Last May, Nabwe completed the University of Minnesota’s hammer throw sweep at the BIG 10 Championships. Nabwe, a Jamestown High School Class of 2022 grad, set a BIG 10 Championships meet record with a lifetime best throw of 69.85 meters (229 feet, 2 inches), which also goes down as a new Minnesota program record.

Prior to that, Nabwe earned her second-straight conference title in the women’s weight throw at the 2025 BIG 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships. Nabwe’s championship throw measured 24.22 meters (79 feet, 5 inches) — a personal best for the former Blue Jay. With the win, Nabwe became the fifth BIG 10 women’s weight thrower to defend her conference title and the first to do so since 2016 when two-time Olympian Kelsey Card of the University of Wisconsin went back-to-back.

Nabwe owns the NCAA No. 21 mark all-time in the weight throw and also holds the second-best indoor shot put mark all-time at the University of Minnesota at 56 feet, 6 1/2 inches.

Still — the former Blue Jay would categorize her second season with the Gophers as a “learning experience.”

“I had a lot of highs but also challenges both mentally and physically,” Nabwe said. “I didn’t finish exactly where I wanted, but that helped me grow more as a person and an athlete.”

What she’s growing into should scare her competition.

At the university’s M City Classic on Dec. 5, Nabwe secured wins in the weight throw and the shot put. Both of Nabwe’s winning marks in the shot put and weight throw were school records. Nabwe launched the shot 16.40 meters (53 feet, 9 3/4 inches) and the weight 23.74 meters or 77 feet, 10 3/4 inches.

Contributed / Annie Nabwe

“People should know that I am motivated, focused, committed and overall having fun,” Nabwe said. “I am thankful for the support that I have gotten from loved ones, teammates, coaches, and everyone who has supported me. I am grateful and excited to keep growing and to see what the future holds.”

Nabwe’s season-opening weight throw mark is more than 4 feet farther than her 2024 opening weight throw of 73-8. Nabwe’s mark in shot was also an improvement from last year’s opening indoor competition by nearly 2 feet.

On Dec. 9, the Big Ten tabbed Nabwe as the conference’s indoor track and field athlete to watch.

“People should know that I am ready, working hard, and I don’t give up easily,” Nabwe said. “They should know that every time I show up, I give my best.”

Her “best” is honed daily by the University of Minnesota’s training program.

Since the season officially began, Nabwe and her teammates weight lift on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for four hours. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, team members lift for anywhere between 1 hour, 45 minutes, and 2 hours. On Saturdays, the team practices or lifts for about 90 minutes.

“A typical training session is based on my class schedule,” Nabwe said. “A normal, let’s say, Monday, I have practice at 8:30 (a.m.) so I wake up at 7, get ready and eat breakfast. Then I scooter over to practice, warm up with my teammates and have practice.

“After, I go home and if I have time to eat and shower, I do, then I have class from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.,” she said. “I try to eat in between or after that class, because my next class is at 1 to 2:15 and after that class I have lift at 3. … After lift, I go to the trainer’s to get worked on and after that it’s about 5 o’clock. I go to the dining hall to eat dinner and then go home around 6-7 (p.m.) and do school work or if I do not have any I try to relax.”

The next competition on the docket for Nabwe is the Minnesota Open at the University of Minnesota on Jan. 10. The indoor season will conclude with the BIG 10 Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 13-14.

“My goals for this year are being more confident, being mentally tough and starting off competitively instead of laid back, breaking some records and winning titles,” Nabwe said. “These are all achievable because I have worked hard and I am in the position to do it. All I have to do is connect the pieces.”

Contributed / Annie Nabwe

Katie Ringer is a sports reporter for the Jamestown Sun. Katie joined the Sun staff in the summer of 2019 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire with a degree in journalism. She can be reached by email at kringer@jamestownsun.com or by phone at 701-952-8460.