Ten Event Titles, Two Qualifiers for WPU at Season Opener
Des Moines–Xzavion West (Sr., Guthrie, Ky., Psychology) and Koby Higginbotham (Fr., Knoxville, Iowa, Exercise Science) guided the Statesmen men’s track and field team to an impressive day as it opened its outdoor campaign at the Grand View Viking Relays Saturday.
West and Higginbotham both qualified for the NAIA National Championship in May after hitting automatic-qualifying standards.
West topped the hammer throw field at 203-11, breaking his own school record of 201-6 in the process. The senior also placed second in the shot put (52-5.25) and third in the discus (141-2).
Higginbotham’s ‘A’ standard came in a win in the 110-meter hurdles, running a new stadium-record time of 14.17 seconds.
Saturday was a big day across the board for the navy and gold as they won 10 of the 22 contested events.
Mills led the remaining group with a double-title day, claiming the long jump at 21-10.25 and the triple jump at 44-9.
Keena Taylor (Fr., St. Petersburg, Fla., Business Management) grabbed the 200-meter dash gold in 21.42 seconds, while Damarius Parker (Fr., Des Moines, Iowa, General Accounting) was first in the 400-meter dash in 49.25 seconds.
Andrew Miller (Jr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) took the crown in the 5,000-meter run (15:50.46), while Sutton Shively (So., Bloomfield, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) earned the victory in the 10,000-meter run (36:07.20).
The pole vault win was claimed by Wyatt Wallingford (Jr., Weston, Mo., Nursing) at 10-8, while the 4×100-meter relay team of Taylor, Youssef Hamed (Jr., Al Wakrah, Qatar, Business Management), Javarius Hughes (Fr., Des Moines, Iowa, New Media), and Travaughn Robbins-Hall (So., Lauderhill, Fla., Software Engineering) hit the line first in 41.84 seconds.
Hamed and Gavin Huff (Jr., Mascoutah, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) just missed championships of their own as both finished in the runner-up position. Hamed did so in the 100-meter dash in 10.60 seconds, while Huff grabbed the silver in the 5,000 in 16:25.27.
Myrhon Addison (Fr., Glennville, Ga., Sports Management) placed in the top 10 in three separate throwing events. The freshman was fourth in the shot put (50-3.5), sixth in the hammer throw (153-3), and seventh in the discus (131-1).
Additionally, fellow thrower Fredrick Kolla Nguimdo (Jr., Wheaton, Md., Secondary Education) ended up eighth in the hammer throw at 139-1.
Sprinters K’Juan Johnson (Fr., Nassau, Bahamas, Business Management) and Travaughn Robbins-Hall (So., Lauderhill, Fla., Software Engineering) both recorded a pair of top-10 placings as well. Johnson finished fourth in the 200 (22.07) and fifth in the 100 (10.96), while Robbins-Hall was seventh in the 100 (11.05) and ninth in the 200 (22.88).
“Our men definitely took advantage of the warm weather this weekend with PRs left and right, and Koby Higginbotham and Xzavion West demolished ‘A’ standards right off the rip,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “This is just the start and tip of the iceberg for us.”
Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Fayette, Mo. on April 2-3 to compete in the Central Methodist Invitational.
