Statesmen Begin Indoor Campaign at SAU Frigid Bee
Davenport–Xzavion West (Jr., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) walked off as a winner in the season opener, leading the William Penn men’s indoor track and field team at the St. Ambrose Frigid Bee Opener Saturday.
WPU placed fifth out of 12 teams with 64 points, while host St. Ambrose won the crown with 132 points.
West had a terrific opener, winning the shot put at 49-10.5 and taking second in the weight throw at 56-7.
Fredrick Kolla Nquimdo (So., Wheaton, Md., Secondary Education) was close behind in the weight throw, taking third (53-8), while Myrhon Addison also earned bronze in the shot put (48-0.75). Addison was a two-time top-10 placer as he was ninth in the weight throw as well at 45-7.
Javarius Hughes was third in the 60-meter dash as well (6.96), while Keena Taylor was one of three fourth-place efforts Saturday. Taylor did so in the 60 (6.99), while Micah Mills (So., Houston, Texas, Psychology) accomplished the feat in the long jump (21-8.75). The 4×400-meter relay team ended up fourth as well in a time of 3:27.35.
Four more sprinters were in the top half of the 60-meter dash field, including Travaughn Robbins-Hall (Fr., Lauderhill, Fla., Software Engineering) (6th, 7.08), Christopher Smith (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) (15th, 7.21), Clarence Reed (18th, 7.26), and Cale Subdeck (21st, 7.28).
Smith also finished in the top half in the 200-meter dash with a 12th-place time of 23.83 seconds.
In the one-mile run, Gavin Huff (Jr., Mascoutah, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) led the navy and gold in sixth place (4:32.83), while Sean Gomez (Fr., Denver, Iowa, Exercise Science) was 11th (4:50.70).
“Two words describe our day: Strong execution,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “Our men executed and progressed through the day extremely well, and came out with great results. They know that their ceiling is sky high. We are extremely well-rounded, and we have not even had everyone compete yet. Our athletes are hungry and ready for more.”
Next Up: William Penn will split its squad next week with athletes potentially returning to Davenport next Thursday and Friday for the St. Ambrose Finals Week Multi-Events or heading to Iowa City next Saturday for the Iowa Jimmy Grant Alumni Invitational.
