Numerous High Finishes at Truman Quad
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Kirksville, Mo.–The William Penn track and field teams opened a busy week by traveling into Missouri to compete at the Truman Quad Wednesday.
Both teams placed second out of four programs with the men scoring 46 points and the women claiming 38 points. Truman topped both standings as each tallied 99 points.
Tristen Elmore (Jr., Ovied, Fla., Physical Education) was one of four male athletes to top their respective event, doing so in the high jump at 6-5. The junior was also second in the 200-meter dash in 22.21 seconds.
Joel Brown (Fr., Columbus, Ga.) bettered Elmore in the 200, taking the crown in a time of 22.15 seconds, while Chris Leiba (Jr., Olympia, Wash., Business Management) was the fastest man in the 100 in 10.93 seconds.
Mofiyinfoluwa Alade (So., Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Malyk Thomas (So., Copperas Cove, Texas, Computer Science) made it a 1-2-3 finish for the navy and gold in the high jump as they also cleared 6-5.
Seth Davis (Jr., Farmerville, Texas) secured gold as well in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.82 seconds.
Matthew Cuthbert (Sr., Yucaipa, Calif., Sociology) headlined the throwing crew as he earned silver in the shot put at 42-1.5. Third-place finishes also came from Kainalu Batongbacal (Fr., Goldbar, Wash., Applied Technology) in the javelin (154-1) and Jace Lukefahr (Fr., Newton, Iowa) in the discus (123-10).
Kenneth Bolton III (Fr., South Riding, Va.) placed fourth in the 400-meter dash in 52.50 seconds.
Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Sr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) locked down the sweep of high jump titles for William Penn as she took the women’s competition at 5-3.25.
Alexzandrea Woudenberg (So., Ottumwa, Iowa), with a time of 12.88 seconds, picked up the win in the 100, while Raven Williams (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev.), in 1:01.78, was the 400 champion.
Shelbie Williams (So., Hedrick, Iowa, Elementary Education) took home silver in the shot put at 37-4.5, while Ashley Omoregie (Fr., Old Bridge, N.J.) did the same in the 400 in 1:02.65. The 4×100-meter relay squad was second as well in 49.59 seconds.
Elayna VanArsdale (Jr., Bensalem, Pa., Secondary Education) paced WPU in both the discus (118-6) and hammer (126-3), finishing third in each event. Kiara Davis (Jr., Thibodaux, La., Biology) also won bronze, doing so in the 200 (28.58).
Becky Cleppe (Jr., St. Petersburg, Fla., Physical Education) was the Statesmen’s top javelin thrower as she placed fourth with a toss of 104-3.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Indianola Friday to compete in the Simpson Kip Janvrin Open.
