Statesmen Begin Outdoor Campaign at Missouri S&T Invite
Rolla, Mo.–The William Penn men’s track and field team found warmer weather as it opened its outdoor season at the Missouri S&T Miner Invitational Friday and Saturday.
Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) headlined the efforts by placing second in the 100-meter dash in 10.75 seconds, while John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) had a pair of top-10 finishes. The freshman took third in the triple jump at 45-9.75 and sixth in the 200-meter dash at 22.25.
Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) was right behind Webb in the triple jump, finishing fifth at 44-9, while also ending up 10th in the 110-meter hurdles (16.13). Micah Mills (Fr., Houston, Texas, Psychology) was in the triple jump’s top 10 as well, taking sixth at 44-6.
Keaten Griffen (So., Longview, Texas, Industrial Technology), in seventh place in the pole vault at 12-11.5, and Kwabena Banahene (Fr., Fontana, Calif., Undecided), in 10th in the high jump at 5-10.75, were also in the top 10, as were hammer throwers Xzavion West (So., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) and Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services). West placed ninth at 174-5 and Marshall was 10th with a distance of 170-7.
Marshall ended up 17th in the discus as well (126-0), while West was 21st in the shot put (43-3.25).
Jaden Loveless (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, Industrial Technology) narrowly missed a top-10 finish, hitting the line in 11th (51.89 seconds) for the 400-meter dash. Jaden Shannon (Fr., Bowling Green, Ky., Political Science) wrapped up the top sprinting performances with a 25th-place effort in the 100 at 11.44.
Steven Murray (Sr., Missouri Valley, Iowa, Sociology) recorded a trio of top-half showings, finishing 15th in the hammer throw (145-11), 17th in the shot put (44-11.75), and 32nd in the discus (115-4). Jeremiah Conteh (Sr., Shorewood, Wis., English) tallied two top-half finishes, ending 21st in the hammer throw (138-11) and 33rd in the discus (115-1).
“This was a solid season opener for our men,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “We got to see a bit of better weather off the bat, which gave us a good meet to shake off the rust. Our field events really had some great things happen, including our hammer throwers Xzavion West and Nick Marshall just missing the ‘B’ standard. They are setting up for a solid year. Our triple jumpers showed some great promise as well and saw glimpses of some massive jumps early on. This was a good meet to start and build from.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Pella next Thursday to compete in the Central Invitational.
