Elmore Adds 100 to Qualifying List at Darrel Gourley Open
William Penn University Athletics
Liberty, Mo.–It seems no matter what event Tristen Elmore (Fr., Ovied, Fla., Physical Education) tries, he is successful and Saturday he added another accomplishment as the William Penn track and field teams competed at the Darrel Gourley Open hosted by William Jewell College.
As a team, the Statesmen men were fifth with 54 points, while NCAA Division II Lincoln (Mo.) won the team crown with 117 points.
Elmore, who qualified for indoor nationals in the high and long jump, had also already hit the ‘B’ standard in the outdoor 200-meter dash last week. He doubled up in the sprints Saturday, also meeting the ‘B’ mark in the 100-meter dash with a fourth-place time of 10.69 seconds. The freshman was also seventh in the 200 at 21.69 seconds.
Derek Robinson (Jr., Jenks, Okla., Communications) also locked up a nationals berth a week ago, doing so in the discus, but advanced his provisional mark to an automatic-qualifying length of 162-0 as he finished second overall. The junior was third in the hammer as well at 156-4.
Robinson was one slot lower in both competitions to teammate Derek Seddon (Sr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education). The senior led all discus hurlers at 173-3 and was second in the hammer at 172-7.
William Penn’s 4×100-meter relay crew walked off the oval with a runner-up placing at 42.01, while the 4×4 team was sixth in 3:33.29.
Other top-10 efforts came from Kewan Slaton (Fr., Lakeland, Tenn., Computer Science) in the 400-meter dash (7th, 50.31), Zack Johnson (Jr., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) in the 800-meter run (8th, 2:02.50), and Tyler Albert (So., Eldon, Iowa, Engineering Technology) in the javelin (9th, 137-11).
The WPU women also earned 3.5 points Saturday. Headlining the women’s efforts were high jumper Vashti Nwagbaraocha (So., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science), who was seventh at 4-11, and Guadalupe Gonzalez (Jr., Houston, Texas, Exercise Science), who was eighth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:20.70.
“Our athletes took advantage of the wind and performed extremely well,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said. “Once again, we improved on our marks and times. I am very proud of all the hard work our athletes and coaches have put in.”
Next Up: William Penn will take a select few individuals to Lawrence, Kan. this coming week (Wednesday-Saturday) to compete in the Kansas Relays. The rest of the crew will travel to Pella next Saturday to compete in the Central Invitational.
