Johnson Qualifies, Beaver with Another Record
Mount Vernon–The William Penn men’s track and field team worked through windy conditions to again post strong results as it competed at the Cornell Invitational Saturday.
As a team, WPU finished third out of 10 teams with 97.5 points. Mount Mercy claimed the team crown with 159 points.
Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) and D’Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) guided the navy and gold with huge single events.
Johnson won the 100-meter dash with an automatic national-qualifying time of 10.44 seconds, while Beaver broke the 5,000-meter run school record with a winning time of 15:21.17. The time breaks the 19-year-old record of 15:25.22 by Lenin Zapata in 2005.
Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management) nearly joined his teammates in the winners’ circle as he placed second in the 800-meter run in 1:59.94.
WPU’s 4×400-meter relay squad was also second at 3:32.83, while another 4×4 crew ended up sixth (3:37.61).
Bronze was captured by both Tahj Ferguson (Sr., Hartford, Conn., Psychology) in the long jump (20-3.75) and Tom Nyandoro (Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., Information Technology) in the triple jump (38-9), while Nyandoro also ended up fourth in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.54 seconds.
Jalen Morris (Fr., Grimes, Iowa, Business Management) followed his teammate in the triple jump, taking fifth at 38-4.25.
WPU had three individuals place high in the 1,500-meter run with Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering) placing fifth (4:08.48), Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) finishing sixth (4:14.53), and Ethan Varvelo (Jr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology) hitting the line in 15th (4:23.03).
The throwing duo of Steven Murray (Sr., Missouri Valley, Iowa, Sociology) and Xzavion West (So., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) each posted three strong performances. Murray was fourth in both the shot put (45-1) and discus (137-9) and 13th in the hammer throw (145-8), while West was fifth twice (44-9.75 in the shot put and 166-9 in the hammer) and 10th in the discus (122-11).
Additionally in the throws, Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services) took fourth in the hammer (172-0) and seventh in the shot (44-2.75), while Jeremiah Conteh (Sr., Shorewood, Wis., English) was 12th in the hammer at 148-8.
Bennett Polite (Jr., Kearney, Mo., Fine Arts) guided the remaining sprinters as he was eighth in the 100 in 11.27 seconds, while placing seventh in the high jump at 5-7.75.
John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) was ninth in the 100 (11.29), while Rayan Antonia (So., Willensted, Curacao, Business Management) finished 12th (11.40).
In the 200-meter dash, Antonia was 16th (23.65) and Jaden Loveless (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, Industrial Technology) finished 18th (23.89).
“Both Showalter Johnson and D’Artagnon Beaver have been having great years and it was nice to see them qualify and break records early on in the season, knowing they have a lot more in the tank,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “Steven Murray has really been coming into his own as well. We go up against some heavy hitters next week. It is going to be exciting to watch it unfold.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids next Friday and Saturday to compete in the Mount Mercy Distance Carnival.
