Relay Team Wins Title as WPU Fights at Conference Meet
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Fayette, Mo.–The Statesmen men’s track and field took the crown in the fastest relay as William Penn took on the rest of the league at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships Friday and Saturday.
WPU won the 4×100-meter relay in a time of 41.43 seconds; squad members included Joel Brown (Fr., Columbus, Ga.), Tristen Elmore (Jr., Ovied, Fla., Physical Education), Chris Leiba (Jr., Olympia, Wash., Business Management), and Sage Ehresman (Jr., Sully, Iowa, Exercise Science).
That helped the navy and gold to place seventh out of 12 teams with 60 points, while Grand View topped the team standings with 178 points. The William Penn women were ninth out of 12 teams with 20 points; MidAmerica Nazarene won the team title with 195 points.
Elmore had an excellent weekend on the individual side as well, placing in three other events. The junior was second in the high jump at 6-5.5, third in the 100-meter dash in 10.83 seconds, and fourth in the 200-meter dash in 22.21 seconds.
Leiba bettered his teammate in both of the sprints as he was second in the 100 (10.75) and third in the 200 (21.91).
Mofiyinfoluwa Alade (So., Hoffman Estates, Ill.) was also a multiple placer, ending up third in the high jump (6-3.5) and fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.50 seconds.
Brown joined Elmore and Leiba in the 100 finals and finished sixth at 11.15.
The Statesmen scored points in the 4×400-meter relay with a seventh-place showing in 3:30.73, while Seth Davis (Jr., Farmerville, Texas) took eighth in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.97 seconds.
A trio of field event participants narrowly missed the top eight, including Ehresman who was ninth in the shot put (45-2.5), and Loys Parker (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.) (43-1 in the triple jump) and
Tyler Albert (Sr., Eldon, Iowa, Engineering Technology) (152-10 in the javelin) who were both 10th.
Elayna VanArsdale (Jr., Bensalem, Pa., Secondary Education) guided the women at the Championships with two placings. The junior accomplished the feat in the discus by taking third at 130-0 and in the hammer by taking sixth at 137-9.
Bree’Anna Lee (Jr., Broken Arrow, Okla., Biology) was the next-highest finisher as she was fifth in the 5,000-meter race walk in a time of 33:44.63.
Seventh-place efforts came from the 4×4 (4:14.20) and 4×8 relays (11:22.12) as well as from Talaysia Douver (Fr., Lakewood, Calif.) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (13:21.16), while the 4×1 crossed the line in eighth at 51.21.
Ashley Omoregie (Fr., Old Bridge, N.J.) was narrowly outside the scoring sector in 10th in the 400-meter dash (1:01.70).
Next Up: A select group of individuals looking to qualify for nationals will travel to Naperville, Ill. next Thursday and Friday as it competes in the North Central Dr. Keeler Invitational.
