Seddon Claims All-American Award in Shot Put
William Penn University Athletics
Johnson City, Tenn.–Derek Seddon (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) had the chips stacked against him and was coming off a near award-winning effort the day before, but he finished the deal Saturday to highlight William Penn’s showing at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships.
Seddon opened the Championships by placing 10th in Friday’s weight throw. His toss of 59-9.75 broke his own school record, but the field was incredibly deep as eighth place was a full 12.25 inches ahead of him. Cody Boellstorff of Concordia (Neb.) won the title at 69-9.
While the junior was already firing on all cylinders, he took it to a new level Saturday by finishing seventh in the shot put (entered 25th) with another program mark at 53-3.75. The old mark of 51-6 had stood since 1989. Zachary Lurz of Concordia (Neb.) was first with a distance of 57-7.75.
The All-American accolade is the 13th all-time for the men’s program and the sixth indoor laurel. WPU has now won 10 honors since 2010, while the honor marks the third-straight Championships in which the navy and gold have walked off with an award.
Seddon, who is now a two-time All-American (discus in last year’s outdoor meet), helped William Penn to 46th place in the team standings with two points.
Unfortunately, the rest of his Statesmen colleagues could not match his performance. Also on Saturday, Meaghan Foster (Sr., Centerville, Iowa, Physical Education) was 18th in the women’s shot put at 42-1.5; Amy Blucker of Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) was the event champion at 48-2.75.
On Friday, Tarah Alexander (Sr., Cedar, Iowa, Physical Education) was 14th in the women’s 1,000-meter run in 3:04.41, while Hanna Hermansson of Marymount (Calif.) darted to the crown in 2:45.81.
Just prior to Alexander’s race, Payton Busch (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education) finished 15th in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:00.53. Dominic Muessig of Siena Heights (Mich.) won the race in a time of 1:53.11.
