Statesmen Prep for League Championships at Grinnell Invite
William Penn University Athletics
Grinnell–The William Penn track and field teams did not have a large contingency in action Saturday, but those who performed did well as the Statesmen competed at the Grinnell Invitational.
WPU used Saturday’s competition as one final chance to improve individual seedings for the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships, which will be held next Friday and Saturday in Jacksonville, Ill. The men were sixth with 51 points, while Cornell won the crown with 78 points. The women were 13th with six points; Grand View topped the standings with 112.5 points.
Jamal Boma (Sr., Des Moines, Iowa, Business Management and Physical Education) guided the navy and gold as he won the 5,000-meter run event in 15:27.69.
Malik Brown (Jr., Long Beach, Calif., Psychology) earned silver in the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.14 seconds; the distance medley relay team was also second in 11:17.36.
Kewan Slaton (Fr., Lakeland, Tenn., Computer Science) recorded a pair of top-10 efforts, finishing sixth in the 400-meter dash (52.19 seconds) and ninth in the 200 (23.54).
William Penn managed two top-10 placers in several events, including in the 600-meter run as Zack Johnson (Jr., Decatur, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) took third (1:25.36), while Payton Busch (Sr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education) was sixth overall (1:26.52).
In the 60-meter hurdles, Brenden Foster (Fr., Rock Hill, S.C., General Accounting) crossed the line in fourth at 9.18 seconds and Tyler Albert (So., Eldon, Iowa, Engineering Technology) had the ninth-fastest time at 9.70.
Michael Hubbard (So., Gary, Ind., Exercise Science) joined Brown in the 60’s top-10 as he was seventh (7.26), while Alyjah Cooper (Fr., Little Elm, Texas, Biology) joined Slaton in the 400, ending up 10th in a time of 53.20 seconds.
Dajon Shaw (So., Highland Park, Mich., Mechanical Engineering), who was fifth in the long jump (20-4.25), and Sage Ehresman (Fr., Sully, Iowa, Exercise Science), who was seventh in the shot put (42-8.75), also finished in the top 10.
Women’s throwers Elayna VanArsdale (Fr., Bensalem, Pa., Secondary Education) and Becky Cleppe (Fr., St. Petersburg, Fla., Physical Education) each managed two top-10 performances. VanArsdale was ninth in the shot put (35-11.5) and tied for 10th in the weight throw (43-2.5), while Cleppe was 10th in both competitions (35-10 shot put, 43-2.5 weight throw).
Deja Lewis (Sr., Spring, Texas, Psychology) had an eighth-place effort in the mile run (6:14.32), while D’Jannay Patterson (Fr., Fairfield, Iowa) was ninth in the 200 (27.89) and Asia Cochran (Sr., Belleville, Ill., Physical Education) was 10th in the 60 (8.37).
“We took a small squad up today to try and get those athletes seeded higher for the conference championships, and for the most part, we were successful in our endeavor,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said.
