Taylor Breaks Record, Three Qualify as WPU Splits Squad
April 13th, 2026
Cedar Rapids/Des Moines–Keena Taylor (Fr., St. Petersburg, Fla., Business Management) set a new standard in a sprinting event, while Koby Higginbotham (Fr., Knoxville, Iowa, Exercise Science) and Xzavion West (Sr., Guthrie, Ky., Psychology) joined him by meeting national-qualifying marks as the Statesmen men’s track and field team competed in two separate meets throughout the weekend.
William Penn battled at the Mount Mercy Mustang Carnival and Open Friday and Saturday and the Drake Jim Duncan Invitational Saturday.
Drake
Taylor was second in the 200-meter dash with a school-record time of 20.95 seconds. His provisional-standard time broke the old mark of 21.22 seconds by Showalter Johnson in 2023. The freshman currently sits fifth in the NAIA.
Taylor was also eighth in the 100-meter dash in 10.78 seconds.
Higginbotham finished fourth overall in his 110-meter hurdles collegiate debut, but the field was so deep that he still managed to hit the ‘A’ standard in a time of 13.93 seconds.
The freshman currently leads all NAIA hurdlers.
Andrew Miller (Jr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) matched Taylor with a silver in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:26.78, while Youssef Hamed (Jr., Al Wakrah, Qatar, Business Management) was both fourth in the 100 (10.67) as well as 10th in the 200 (21.53).
Gavin Huff (Jr., Mascoutah, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) hit the steeplechase finish line in fifth place with a time of 10:03.04.
Mount Mercy
West paced the navy and gold in Cedar Rapids with a ‘B’ standard shot put of 53-11.75. He has now qualified in the shot put and hammer throw. The senior also finished 11th in the discus at 134-8.
Myrhon Addison (Fr., Glennville, Ga., Sports Management) was a three-time high finisher, taking third in the shot put (49-7.75), 10th in the hammer throw (154-8), and 12th in the discus (134-6).
Travaughn Robbins-Hall (So., Lauderhill, Fla., Software Engineering) was next, finishing fourth in the 100 in 11.13 seconds (11.05 in the prelims).
DeLawrence Davis (Fr., Marion, Ark., Sports Management), in seventh place in the high jump (5-9.25), and Sutton Shively (So., Bloomfield, Iowa, Mechanical Engineering), in ninth place in the 1,500-meter run (4:35.77), also ended up in the top 10.
Huff competed in both of the weekend’s meets, finishing 13th in the 800-meter run in 2:01.50. Brayden Veiseth (Fr., New Sharon, Iowa, Industrial Technology) joined his teammate in the top half of the 800 in 22nd at 2:05.75.
Frederick Kolla Nguimdo (Jr., Wheaton, Md., Secondary Education) wrapped up the WPU performances as he was 17th in the hammer throw at 139-9.
“We had some really nice things happen with a few of our men this weekend,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “They are starting to put together races and events, fixing small issues here and there and making adjustments as needed. In our sport, that is a really difficult thing to do, and they are doing it at a high level.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Cedar Rapids next Saturday to compete in the Mount Mercy DeBacker Invitational.
