Excellent Day for Statesmen at T&F Nationals
William Penn University Athletics
Geneva, Ohio–Headlined by a pair of finals-qualifying performances, the Statesmen indoor track and field teams had a great start to the NAIA National Championships Friday.
In search of a national title after finishing fifth last year, Alex Edwards (Sr., Knoxville, Iowa, Elementary Education) chose to compete in only the 600-meter run (had qualified in four events). The decision was a very good one as he blitzed his foes in the preliminaries, leading the 21-person field with a new school-record time of 1:18.33.
Joining Edwards as a finals participant on Saturday will be CJ Watts (Jr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education). The junior finished in ninth place, but due to a disqualification of another runner, his school-record finish of 48.75 seconds will put him in the championship race as well.
Cornelius McCastle (So., McKinney, Texas, Industrial Technology) and Derek Seddon (So., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) narrowly missed reaching All-America status in their respective field events. McCastle finished 10th in the high jump at 6-8.25, while Seddon was 11th in the weight throw at 54-4.
Tarah Alexander (Jr., Cedar, Iowa, Physical Education), who was William Penn’s lone female representative on Friday, had unfortunately the toughest showing. Facing an extremely fast 800-meter run field, the junior took 18th in 2:21.74.
In addition to the two finals events, Meaghan Foster (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Undecided) will also be in competition on Saturday in the shot put, while McCastle will return to action in the triple jump.
