Drake Chosen as Heart Men’s Assistant COY, All-Heart Honors Announced

Oskaloosa–Assistant Track and Field Coach Caleb Drake guided his distance runners to a huge weekend, and for his efforts he was recognized as the Heart of America Athletic Conference announced its top awards from its indoor championships.

Drake was named the Heart Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year after his athletes produced 61 of William Penn’s 110 total points. Also the head cross country coach, he is the third-consecutive member of WPU’s staff to win the laurel on the men’s side after fellow assistant Zuva Bvekerwa claimed it during last year’s indoor and outdoor campaigns.

Drake’s athletes scored in seven different events, led by individual wins from D’Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) in the one-mile run and 3,000-meter run, as well as teams victories from the 4×800-meter relay and distance medley relay crews.

Overall, William Penn placed third out of 12 teams.

Keegan Thompson of Mount Mercy was tabbed as Heart Track Athlete of the Meet, while Luke Nickelsen of Mount Mercy won the Field Athlete of the Meet accolade. Mount Mercy’s Ryan Scheckel was voted as Heart Coach of the Year by his peers.

The following are the all-Heart awards won by WPU male and female athletes:

First-team all-Heart (Heart champion)
D’Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services)–4:19.74 in the one-mile run; 8:45.56 in the 3,000-meter run
Men’s 4×800-meter relay–7:49.75
Men’s distance medley relay–10:33.90

Second-team all-Heart (Second place)
Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering)–1:55.06 in the 800-meter run; 2:31.56 in the 1,000-meter run

Third-team all-Heart (Third place)
Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media)–6.84 in the 60-meter dash
Keaten Griffen (So., Longview, Texas, Industrial Technology)–14-5.25 in the pole vault
John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering)–45-0.25 in the triple jump
Erica Martin (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Sports Management)–44-1.5 in the shot put
Abigaille Batu-Tiako (Sr., Plattsburgh, N.Y., Business Management)–7.86 in the 60-meter dash

Honorable-mention all-Heart (Fourth through sixth place)
Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management)–2:32.48 in the 1,000-meter run (fourth)
Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering)–44-11 in the triple jump (fourth)
Jeremiah Conteh (Sr., Shorewood, Wis., English)–53-2.25 in the weight throw (fourth)
Abigaille Batu-Tiako–17-10.75 in the long jump (fourth)
Showalter Johnson–21.94 in the 200-meter dash (fifth)
Micah Mills (Fr., Houston, Texas, Psychology)–44-8.25 in the triple jump (fifth)
Women’s 4×800-meter relay–10:13.64 (fifth)
Women’s distance medley relay–13:49.17 (fifth)
Tom Nyandoro (Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., Information Technology)–43-8 in the triple jump (sixth)
Anthony Weaver–8.75 in the 60-meter hurdles (sixth)
De’Avae Adderley (So., Nassau, Bahamas, Engineering Technology)–26.06 in the 200-meter dash (sixth)