Butler Meets Qualifying Mark in Second Event
William Penn Women's Athletics
Indianola/Des Moines–Rachel Butler (Sr., Orange County, Calif., Calvary Chapel Downey HS) will be showing off her skills in two events at the national meet as she hit another qualifying mark at the Kip Janvrin Open hosted by Simpson Friday.
Butler headlined the William Penn effort by tossing the javelin an NAIA ‘B’ distance of 130-4. The senior placed second in the event and has now qualified in the javelin and the hammer (154-0 at the Central Open last week).
The throw outshined a pair of top-five finishes by male sprinters Carlos Stepter (Sr., Highland Park, Mich., Highland Park HS) and Gabriel Green (So., Anniston, Ala., Anniston HS).
Stepter finished second in the 100-meter dash (10.81 seconds) and was fourth in the 200 (22.09 seconds), while Green was the exact opposite in claiming runner-up honors in the 200 (21.72 seconds) and placing fourth in the 100 (10.89 seconds).
Jonathan Pope (Sr., Starkville, Miss., Starkville HS) competed in just one event, but tallied a share of the gold with a high jump of 6-6, setting a new personal outdoor season best.
Royce Clay (Sr., Miami, Fla., Booker T. Washington HS) earned silver in the triple jump at 44-11.75, while the 4×100-meter relay squad also took second with a time of 43.64 seconds.
Dexter Jordan (Fr., St. Louis, Mo., Forest Park CC) topped a list of three other season bests as he was sixth in the 400-meter dash in a time of 50.82 seconds. Blake Washington (Fr., Knoxville, Knoxville HS), with a tenth-place time of 1:59.49 in the 800-meter run, and Walter Herron (Jr., Houston, Texas, Westfield HS), with a seventh-place javelin throw of 153-9, also posted season bests.
Nick Reynolds (Jr., Riverton, Utah, Iowa Western CC) was ninth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:05.98, while Kipp Schuler (Sr., Haviland, Kan., Dana), competing for the first time this season in the event, was right behind Reynolds in tenth at 10:07.04.
Tyler Shipley (Fr., State Center, West Marshall HS) was tenth as well, triple-jumping to a mark of 38-7.75.
The 4×1 squad was also in action at the prestigious Drake Relays and placed 27th of 38 collegiate teams with a time of 43.17 seconds.
Next: William Penn will travel to Des Moines Friday and Saturday to compete in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.
