William Penn Athletics News–April 17
William Penn University Athletics
Several Titles at Home Event
Oskaloosa–As the weather warmed throughout the day, so did the William Penn track and field teams as they hosted the Statesmen Relays Thursday.
Although no school records or national-qualifying marks were posted, the Relays were still packed with loads of top performance including numerous event titles.
Alex Edwards (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Secondary Education), Cornelius McCastle (Fr., McKinney, Texas, Industrial Technology), and Chris Gossett (Fr., Park Forest, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) all managed gold Thursday. Edwards did so in the 400-meter dash in 49.15 seconds, while McCastle won the high jump with a height of 5-10.75. Gossett paced a strong showing by the navy and gold in the triple jump as well at 42-10.75 (WPU took the top four spots).
Derek Seddon (Fr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) did not place first in any of the competitions in which he was entered, but he did give the champions a run for their money. The freshman was second in the shot put (47-0.25) and the discus (148-9) and was sixth in the hammer throw (125-7).
Silver was also claimed by Sam Taylor (Jr., Eddyville, Iowa, Industrial Technology) (15.06 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles), Joshua Rankin (Fr., University Park, Ill., Undecided) (42-1.5 in the triple jump), Van Love-Scott (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Education) (138-8 in the javelin), and the 4×400-meter relay team (3:25.85). Rankin was also fifth in the long jump at 19-7.
Kalob Gist (So., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) left Lacey Complex Stadium as a bronze medalist in the shot put (44-0.5), as did Dejon Shaw (Fr., Highland Park, Mich., Mechanical Engineering) in the 100-meter dash (10.87 seconds) and Nick Thomas (Jr., Salmon, Idaho, Physical Education) in the 800-meter run (2:02.17).
Kenbea Walker (Jr., McKinney, Texas, History/Government) led William Penn’s 200-meter dash runners in sixth in 22.96 seconds, while Jonathan Ward (So., Terry, Miss., Undecided) fought through a deep 100 field to finish sixth at 11.12 seconds.
Two titles were picked up Alyssa Phillips (Fr., Gurnee, Ill., Communications) as she guided the women’s crew. The freshman was first in both the high jump (4-11) and long jump (17-0.75).
Raveen Rhone (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif., Biology) had two high finishes, including winning the triple jump at 33-8.5. She was second behind Phillips in the long jump at 15-7.
Shaniece Dishmon (So., Harvey, Ill., Physical Education) also recorded gold AND silver Thursday by winning the 200-meter dash in 27.44 seconds and taking second in the 100 in 12.83 seconds.
Tarah Alexander (So., Cedar, Iowa, Undecided) joined the title club as well by crossing the line first in the 1,500-meter run in 5:04.92. The 4×100-meter relay squad was also up to the task, placing #1 in 52.14 seconds.
The 4×400-meter relay team was second (4:23.34), while Meaghan Foster (So., Centerville, Iowa, Undecided) finished third with a shot put of 39-5. Emma Hoerr (So., Chillicothe, Ill., Physical Education) took fourth in the discus at 131-6 and Tamara Weltch (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Human Services/Sociology) managed fifth place with a 125-5 hammer throw.
Next: William Penn travels to Indianola next Thursday to compete in the Simpson Kip Janvrin Open.
Lathram No-Hits Clarke
Peosta–Up until two weeks ago, Corey Lathram (Sr., Brentwood, Calif., Physical Education) had only been used out of the bullpen, but Thursday he made known he has the material of a top-notch starter as the William Penn baseball team split a Midwest Collegiate Conference doubleheader with Clarke.
The Statesmen (21-13, 8-8 MCC) won the opener 2-0, but dropped the nightcap 7-6 in eight innings. Despite being.500 in league play, WPU is only two games back of first-place Viterbo (10-6) with eight games left. The league is beating itself up pretty good as the best and worst squads in the MCC are separated by just five games.
In just his second pitching start at WPU, Lathram struck out seven batters en route to a no-hitter. The senior (3-3) allowed only two baserunners with a walk in the fourth inning and a hit-by-pitch in the fifth. The no-hitter is the program’s first since Jorge Quezada accomplished the feat on March 9, 2012.
His teammates were limited to only seven hits as well, but made his tremendous outing hold up with one run in each the third and fourth frames. William Vazquez (Fr., North Hollywood, Calif., General Accounting) led off the third with a single and then later scored the eventual game-winner on a sacrifice fly by Sho Serrano (Jr., Lancaster, Calif., Physical Education).
Ryan Keeton (Jr., McCordsville, Ind., Biology) made it 2-0 the following inning. He got on base on a fielder’s choice and moved to third on consecutive one-baggers by Cory DeRush (Jr., Grand Junction, Colo., Business Management) and Vazquez. He finally touched the final pad on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch of Kyle Mauricio (Sr., Ardene Hills, Minn., Physical Education).
Vazquez finished 3-for-3 at the plate.
The visitors were just two outs from wrapping up the sweep, but Clarke (16-26, 5-11 MCC) was resilient to claim a split.
The second contest saw the teams battle back and forth with each side scoring once in the first and twice more in the second. Mauricio scored on a first-inning error, while Vazquez and Matt Emerson (Jr., Saugus, Calif., Business Management) both produced RBI singles in the second.
The Crusaders took their first lead in the third, but WPU answered right back in the fourth when Enrique Alvarado (Sr., Lancaster, Calif., Sociology) and Vazquez rounded the bases.
The home team knotted things up again in the bottom of the fourth at 5-5, but the Statesmen took the lead one more time in the seventh. Nick Perez (So., Greeley, Colo., Physical Education) led off with a single and then pinch-runner Caleb Cline (Sr., Pleasant Hill, Iowa, Physical Education) was sacrificed to second by Keeton. The senior finally scored on one of CU’s three errors.
Unfortunately, the Crusaders had the final say and scored once in the bottom half to force extras and then won it in the eighth.
Both squads posted ten hits with Vazquez again at the top with a 3-for-4, two-run showing. Emerson was 2-for-3 and Serrano was 2-for-4. Alvarado scored twice in the setback.
Four different hurlers hurled from the mound in the nightcap, beginning with starter Jon Davis (Jr., Hayward, Calif., Undecided) going two frames. Kyle Kutzler (Fr., Kenosha, Wis., Industrial Technology) went the longest (four innings) and was on the hook for the win, but Rafael Villafana (Sr., Sylmar, Calif., Communications) could not get it finished off in the seventh (1/3 inning). Jacob Logan (Jr., Galesburg, Ill., Psychology) was given the loss despite striking out two of the eight batters he faced. He falls to 2-1 on the year.
Next: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids next Monday to face Mount Mercy in an MCC doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.
