Seddon Qualifies in Third Event
William Penn University Athletics
Kirksville, Mo./Indianola–Derek Seddon (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) is having a year of unparalleled success by qualifying yet again as the Statesmen track and field team split up once more this week.
At the Truman Twilight on Thursday, Seddon helped the men’s team to third place out of four squads with 104 points; Truman won with 177 points. WPU’s women’s squad was third as well with 72 points, while Truman finished the title sweep with 189 points.
Seddon, who had already qualified for the NAIA National Championships in the shot put and discus, added hammer throw to the list as he placed second with an automatic standard and school record toss of 172-9.
The junior also improved upon his ‘A’ standard mark in the discus with a new school record of 179-11; he won that event Thursday. His day was capped by also taking the shot put crown with another ‘A’ improvement at 51-8.5.
Cornelius McCastle (Jr., McKinney, Texas, Industrial Technology) and Chris Gossett (Sr., Park Forest, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) joined Seddon as event champions. McCastle won the high jump at 6-6, while Gossett landed a triple jump of 46-8.75, missing the provisional qualifying standard by just 0.25 inches.
Earl George (Jr., Gaithersburg, Md., Biology) was third in the pole vault at 9-8, while Aaron Seddon (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) was also third in the javelin at 142-0. Malik Brown (So., Long Beach, Calif., Psychology) headlined William Penn’s 100-meter dash group by taking seventh in 11.21 seconds; CJ Watts (Sr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education) was also seventh in the 200 in 22.38 seconds. Charles Hurt (Fr., Gary, Ind., Sociology) placed fourth in the 400 in 51.59 seconds.
Meaghan Foster (Sr., Centerville, Iowa, Physical Education) walked off the competition field with a trio of high finishes, headlined by finishing second in the shot put at 41.7-75. The senior was also fifth in the discus (112-4) and seventh in the hammer (141-5).
Silver finishes were posted by Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) in the high jump (5-2.5) and Amanda Schrempf (Sr., Marshalltown, Iowa, Sociology) in the javelin (95-2).
Deja Lewis (Jr., Spring, Texas, Biology) topped the rest of the crew by taking third in the 3,000-meter run (11:45.88), while Imani Welch (Fr., St. Louis, Mo., Exercise Science) was fourth in the 200 (27.98) and Taylor Richardson (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Undecided) was fifth in the 400 (1:04.38).
William Penn also sent a handful of athletes to the Simpson Kip Janvrin Open on Friday. Tarah Alexander (Sr., Cedar, Iowa, Physical Education) was by far WPU’s best competitor, as she narrowly missed qualifying in the 800-meter run with a seventh-place time of 2:17.19.
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Des Moines next Saturday and Sunday to compete in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships.
