Seddon, McCastle Lock Up Qualifications in Season Opener
William Penn University Athletics
Des Moines–Two William Penn men’s track and field athletes punched their tickets for nationals as the program dominated its spring opener at the Grand View Invitational Friday.
Derek Seddon (So., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education) was a three-time top-10 placer, but was most successful in the discus as he won the event by eclipsing the NAIA’s automatic standard with a toss of 158-11. He was also seventh in the shot put at 45-2.25 and ninth in the hammer throw at 141-7.
Cornelius McCastle (So., McKinney, Texas, Industrial Technology) will return to nationals as well, doing so in the high jump with a ‘B’ standard of 6-8 that helped him place second.
Seven other crowns were corralled by the navy and gold on Friday, beginning with Neiman Thompson (Jr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education) in the 100 (10.95 seconds) and 200-meter dashes (22.40).
Van Love-Scott (Sr., Detroit, Mich., Education) (javelin, 142-9), Spencer Medlin (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Secondary Education) (400-meter hurdles, 58.87), and Markenson Charles (So., Lehigh Acres, Fla., Industrial Technology) (110-meter hurdles, 16.75) were also at the front of their fields. The 4×400 and 4×800-meter relay crews won titles as well with times of 3:20.68 and 8:10.30, respectively.
Charles was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles as well in 1:05.64.
Romel Marzette (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Sociology) guided a long list of other high placers, gathering runner-up tallies in the 100 (11.03) and long jump (21-6.75) and bronze in the 200 (22.63). Fellow sprinters CJ Watts (Jr., Rockville, Md., Physical Education) (second in the 200, 22.50; fourth in the 100, 11.35), Alex Edwards (Sr., Knoxville, Iowa, Secondary Education) (fifth in the 200, 23.08), and John Roudabush (Sr., Brooklyn, Iowa, Physical Education) (eighth in the 400, 54.43) added to the great day in the short races.
Kalob Gist (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management) (3rd, 46-2.75) and Derek Robinson (Fr., Jenks, Okla., Communications) (9th, 44-0.75) joined Seddon in the top 10 in the shot put.
Yonas Desta (So., Salt Lake City, Utah, Biology) paced the distance runners as he was fourth in the 5,000-meter run in 16:24.70, while Ochaung Akway (Sr., St. Paul, Minn., Physical Education) was right behind him in fifth at 16:25.96.
Tyler Connelly (Fr., Trenton, Texas, Software Engineering) took sixth in the 1,500-meter run (4:32.53) and Garrett Heckman (Fr., New Virginia, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering) ended up seventh (2:12.05) in the 800-meter run.
“This was a great first meet for us,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said. “We had athletes in events they do not usually compete in and they shined today.”
Next Up: William Penn will travel to Pella next Thursday to compete in the Central Invitational.
