Des Moines–The William Penn track and field teams worked around the university’s graduation ceremonies to produce plenty of solid results at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships Friday and Saturday.
The men finished sixth with 62 points, while Baker claimed the league crown with 178.5 points. The women placed 10th (29 points); Grand View was at the top at 138.
Kalob Gist (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) headlined the meet’s activities with a personal best in the shot put. The senior qualified for nationals and won the event with a ‘B’ standard of 51-1. He will join teammate Derek Seddon (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) at nationals in the men’s shot put and is the seventh Statesmen in six different events (nine total qualifiers).
Seddon could not match Gist as an event winner, but did take home a pair of silvers in the discus (169-0) and hammer (173-10).
Fellow thrower Derek Robinson (So., Jenks, Okla., Communications) produced a trio of top-10 performances, including finishing fifth in the discus at 149-3. The sophomore was also ninth in both the shot put (45-0.25) and hammer (149-3).
Another runner-up finish came from CJ Watts (Sr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education). The senior was second in the 400-meter dash in 48.60 seconds and third in the 200-meter dash in 22.36 seconds.
Earl George (Jr., Gaithersburg, Md., Biology) claimed a pair of top-10s as well, including taking fourth in the decathlon with 5,635 points (topped the field in the 100 and shot put). George also finished ninth in the javelin with a distance of 144-11.
Other top-10 showings were recorded by Payton Busch (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education) (fourth, 800-meter run, 1:56.80), Chris Gossett (Sr., Park Forest, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) (fifth, triple jump, 45-5), Charles Hurt (Fr., Gary, Ind., Sociology) (eighth, 400, 51.38), and Tyler Connelly (So., Trenton, Texas, Software Engineering) (10th, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 11:05.46).
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team also earned points by finishing sixth in a time of 3:25.77.
Tarah Alexander (Sr., Cedar, Iowa, Physical Education) and Meaghan Foster (Sr., Centerville, Iowa, Physical Education) were both runners-up on the women’s side. Alexander finished the 800 in 2:18.15, while Foster threw the shot put a length of 43-1.
Kristin Lastovka (Sr., Brooklyn, Iowa, Business Management) was the women’s lone multiple top-10 placer, ending up seventh in the shot put (39-6.5) and 10th in the hammer (128-6).
Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science), in third place (tiebreaker), and Alyssa Phillips (Jr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications), in sixth place, both cleared a mark of 5-1 in the high jump.
Taylor Richardson (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Undecided) was also sixth in the long jump at 17-4.75, while Addison Kepner (Sr., Cincinnati, Iowa, Biology) was ninth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:15.39.
Story provided by Wade Steinlage
