Improvement Shown as Statesmen Compete in Trio of Meets
Orange City/Canton, Mo./Cedar Rapids–The William Penn men’s track and field team took advantage of good weather as it put individuals into competition at three separate meets over the last few days.
WPU battled at the Northwestern Red Raider Open Thursday, the Culver-Stockton Invitational Friday, and the Mount Mercy DeBacker Invitational Saturday.
At Northwestern
D’Artagnon Beaver (Sr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) topped William Penn as the navy and gold were entered into just a few races. The senior placed second in the 1,500-meter run in 3:55.45, while Andrew Miller (So., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) was fifth (4:05.23), Gavin Huff (Fr., Mascoutah, Ill.) was ninth (4:08.99), and Carson Springer (So., Grimes, Iowa, Business Management) was 14th (4:18.70).
Ethan Varvelo (Sr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology) guided his team in the 800-meter run as well with a 10th-place finish of 1:57.84.
At Culver-Stockton
Showalter Johnson (Sr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) was a champion Friday, out-sprinting the field in the 100-meter dash in 10.31 seconds.
Bennett Polite (Jr., Kearney, Mo., Fine Arts) was William Penn’s top 200-meter dash runner with a seventh-placing ending in 22.12 seconds.
Travaughn Robbins-Hall (Fr., Lauderhill, Fla., Software Engineering) paced the remaining Statesmen sprinters by placing 11th in the 100 (10.96) and 13th in the 200-meter dash (22.49). Emanuel Johnson (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y., Industrial Technology) was right behind Robbins-Hall, ending up 12th in the 100 (10.99), while Christopher Smith (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) was 13th in the 100 (11.100) and 16th in the 200 (22.60). John Webb (So., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) crossed the 200 line in 22.54 seconds as well for 14th place.
A runner-up placing for Xzavion West (Jr., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) in the hammer throw (184-3) headlined the throwers’ contributions. The junior was also sixth in the shot put (48-0.75) and seventh in the discus (142-7).
Like West, Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services) also grabbed a trio of top-10 placings, doing in the hammer (3rd, 163-10), shot put (9th, 44-10.75), and discus (9th, 138-7).
Fredrick Kolla Nquimdo (So., Wheaton, Md., Secondary Education) placed ninth in the hammer (139-6), Rylee Scott (Jr., Maxwell, Iowa, Exercise Science) was 11th in the shot put (42-11.75), and Kwabena Banahene (So., Fontana, Calif., Undecided) took home sixth in the high jump field at 6-1.25.
At Mount Mercy
Most of the team’s success came in the field events as West and Micah Mills (So., Houston, Texas, Psychology) both snatched crowns.
West’s win came in the hammer at 186-8, while Mills was awarded the gold in the triple jump at 45-2.25. West was also second in the shot put (49-4.5) and 15th in the discus (110-11), while Marshall gathered up a pair of silvers in the hammer (171-9) and javelin (176-0).
Landon Sullivan (Fr., Wellman, Iowa, Business Management) narrowly missed a long jump crown with a second-place showing at 20-7.25.
Additional 11th-place outings were recorded by Davis in the 800 (2:04.63) and Scott in the javelin (120-1).
“We had some really nice event wins and executed our races and throws well,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “Showalter Johnson and Xzavion West put up some great numbers and really put themselves into great position for nationals. Those two are consistent and are improving little by little each week. It is nice as we are seeing a lot of individuals doing that at this point of the season.”
Next Up: William Penn will again split up with some individuals attending the Drake Relays next Wednesday through Saturday, while others will be at the Simpson Kip Janvrin Open next Friday and Saturday.
