Statesmen Win First Team Title Since 2005
William Penn University Athletics
Pella–The William Penn men’s track and field program has improved leaps and bounds in the past few years, but on Saturday it finally snapped a lengthy title drought as the Statesmen came home champions of the Central Dutch Athletics Classic.
WPU earned the men’s crown with 99 points, holding off NCAA Division II Truman (Mo.) by five points. Future HAAC foe Baker (Kan.) was third with 90 points, while current MCC rival Grand View was fourth with 86 points.
The title is the program’s first since May 2005 when the Statesmen won the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.
“I cannot tell you how extremely proud I am off this group of athletes,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said. “They are special. It was a great team effort by both the men and women.”
Alex Edwards (Sr., Knoxville, Iowa, Secondary Education) and Cornelius McCastle (So., McKinney, Texas, Industrial Technology) headlined the day with national-qualifying performances. Edwards, who had already qualified in the 600-meter run, won the 1,000-meter event in an NAIA ‘A’ standard time of 2:30.87. His time also smashed a school record that stood since 1987.
McCastle improved to the ‘A’ standard as well in the high jump by breaking his own program mark at 6-10.25. It matches his outdoor record and was good for second on Saturday.
Romel Marzette (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa) was also in the gold position with a long jump of 22-1.5, while the 4×400-meter relay team topped the field in 3:25.76. Marzette nearly claimed two titles, finishing second in the 55-meter dash in 6.49 seconds. He was also ninth in the 200 in 23.61 seconds.
CJ Watts (Jr., Rockville, Md.) tallied runner-up showings in the 200-meter dash (23.07 seconds) and 400 (51.20), while Jaylin Thomas (So., Baton Rouge, La.) had three top-ten efforts. The sophomore was fourth in the long jump (21-1.5), fifth in the 200 (23.36), and qualified eighth in the 55 (6.74, false-started in the finals).
Derek Seddon (So., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) snatched two high placings in the throws, going fourth in the weight throw (51-9.75) and fifth in the shot put (45-1.75). Kalob Gist (So., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) was close behind in the shot at 45-0.25.
Chris Gossett (So., Park Forest, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) paced WPU’s triple jumpers with a mark of 40-0.75 to finish fifth, while Charlie Rachford (Fr., Agency, Iowa) did well in the 55-meter hurdles (5th, 8.20 seconds).
Neiman Thompson (Jr., Rockville, Md.) (7th, 52.68) and Spencer Medlin (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa) (9th, 52.97) collected top-ten postings in the 400 as well.
Meaghan Foster (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Undecided) had two top-ten throws to guide the women’s squad. The junior was fourth in the shot put at 40-3.25 and sixth in the weight throw at 47-11.75.
Nykitta Williams (Fr., Kileen, Texas) and Raveen Rhone (Sr., Los Angeles, Calif., Biology) put a pair of Statesmen near the top in the triple jump. Williams was second at 33-8.75 and Rhone was fourth at 33-4.75.
Courtney Dalton (Fr., Posen, Ill.) crossed the line fifth in the 400 (1:03.38) and Tarah Alexander (Jr., Cedar, Iowa, Undecided) was sixth in the 600 (1:46.30).
Other top tens came from high jumper Alora Simmons (So., Newton, Iowa, Elementary Education) (7th, 4-8.75), 55-meter hurdler Kenzie Gunter (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa) (8th, 9.14), and 3,000-meter runner Deja Lewis (So., Spring, Texas, Psychology) (10th, 12:07.18). The 4×4 team was ninth as well in a time of 4:26.96.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Falls next Saturday to compete in the UNI Jack Jennett Invitational.
