Alade, 4×1 Punch Tickets to Nationals
Oskaloosa–The William Penn men’s track and field team locked in two more events for nationals as it hosted the William Penn Statesmen Invitational Friday.
High jumper Mofiyinfoluwa Alade (Sr., Hoffman Estates, Ill., Exercise Science) and the 4×100-meter relay team of Joel Brown (Jr., Columbus, Ga., Engineering Technology), Jaelen Love (Jr., Crown Point, Ind., Secondary Education), Nick Richardson-Jackson (Sr., Germantown, Md.), and Jackson Coates (So., Aldie, Va., Engineering Technology) will all be heading to Gulf Shores, Ala. at the end of May for the NAIA National Championships after posting qualifying marks.
Alada won the high jump with a mark of 6-8.75 (currently ranks fifth in the NAIA), while the 4×1 crew topped its event in a time of 41.69 seconds (currently rank 11th); both are ‘B’ standards. They will join 110-meter hurdler Loubert Dagrin (So., Miami, Fla., Sociology) at nationals.
Alade was also second in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.37 seconds. Love was runner-up in the 200-meter dash (21.86), while Coates was fourth in the 200 (22.38) and sixth in the 100-meter dash (10.90). Jackson-Richardson was fifth in the 100 (10.84), and Brown was seventh in the 100 (10.93) and ninth in the 200 (22.53).
Justin Moeller (So., Keota, Iowa, Psychology) and Jasper Stottlemyer (Jr., Council Bluffs, Iowa, Sociology) blazed a trail for the field athletes as both won their respective events. Moeller was the best long jumper at 22-0.75, while Stottlemyer won the shot put at 47-5.25.
Silver was claimed by Isaac Knockel (Fr., New Sharon, Iowa, Pre-Professional Biology) in the 3,000-meter run (9:26.65), Yasin Mohammed (Fr., Laurel, Md.) in the triple jump (39-1), as well as the 4×400-meter relay team (3:22.73).
Landon Hansen (Jr., Newton, Iowa) walked off with bronze in the shot put (45-9.25), while fellow thrower Jace Lukefahr (Jr., Newton, Iowa) posted three high finishes. The junior was sixth in the shot put (42-2), seventh in the hammer (121-10), and eighth in the discus (120-9).
Jonah Heckenberg (Fr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management) was in the top 10 twice, doing so in the 3,000 (3rd, 9:39.37) and the 1,500-meter run (7th, 4:12.37).
Torian Kingston (Jr., Queens, N.Y., Sports Management) guided WPU in the 400-meter dash (50.57), while Josh Ogden (Sr., Sarasota, Fla.) was also in the mix in the 200 (8th, 22.52). 1,500-meter run participants Vernon Trozzi (So., Hesperia, Calif., Exercise Science) (9th, 4:20.49) and Axel Arzate-Vazquez (So., Wray, Colo., Sports Management) (10th, 4:20.55) also ended up in the top 10.
“Today was a great day for our team as we added two more national-qualifying events and posted a lot of personal bests,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said.
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Des Moines next Friday to compete in the Grand View Viking Classic.
