Seven Win Events at Central
William Penn University Athletics
Pella–High finishes across the board told the story of a successful day for the Statesmen men’s track and field team at the Central Invitational Thursday.
William Penn finished second out of eight teams with 174 points, while Loras won the crown with 212 points.
Seven event titles went to navy and gold competitors with Derek Seddon (So., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) getting one in the hammer throw as he smashed the old school record by over 16 feet with his toss of 161-1.
Seddon also bettered his national-qualifying mark in the discus by placing second at 160-3. He was third in the shot put as well at 46-1.25.
Cornelius McCastle (So., McKinney, Texas, Industrial Technology), Neiman Thompson (Jr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education), and Romel Marzette (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Sociology) topped their respective fields as well.
McCastle won all three jumping battles with his high at 6-7.5, long at 21-8.25, and triple at 46-4.25. Thompson won the 200 (21.94 seconds) and 400-meter dash (48.51 seconds) races; he was just 0.01 seconds from qualifying for nationals in the 400. Marzette won the sport’s fastest race with a 100-meter dash time of 10.83 seconds. He was also second in the long jump (21-5.25) and third in the 200 (22.46 seconds).
Throwers Kalob Gist (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) and Aaron Seddon (So., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) joined Derek Seddon as multiple-time placers. Gist did his work in the shot put (second, 46-4) and hammer throw (seventh, 119-2), while Aaron Seddon was ninth in both the shot put (39-3.25) and hammer throw (111-11).
CJ Watts (Jr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education) narrowly missed a pair of wins, taking second in the 200 (22.43 seconds) and third in the 400 (49.00 seconds). Samuel Bindi (So., Staten Island, N.Y., Accounting) was twice near the top in the sprints as well, taking sixth in the 100 in 11.39 seconds and ninth in the 200 in 22.89 seconds.
Bronze placings were obtained by Spencer Medlin (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Secondary Education) (59.43 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles) and Tim DeJong (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Physical Education) (11.24 seconds in the 100).
Other top-10 efforts came from: Yonas Desta (So., Salt Lake City, Utah, Biology) (5th, 5,000-meter run, 16:15.26), Markenson Charles (So., Lehigh Acres, Fla., Industrial Technology) (7th, 110-meter hurdles, 16.24 seconds), and Nick Thomas (Sr., Salmon, Idaho, Physical Education) (8th, 800-meter run, 2:05.16).
The 4×100 (42.98 seconds) and 4×400-meter relay (3:18.02) crews were second on Thursday as well.
“This was another outstanding performance by our squads today,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said. “I am so proud of our athletes and their coaches. These kids are motivated and hungry to do better every week. “
Next Up: William Penn travels to Des Moines next Friday and Saturday to compete in the Jim Duncan Invitational hosted by Drake.
