Two More Tickets Punched, Drake Relays Title Claimed in Final Weekend Before Heart
Indianola/Des Moines–The William Penn men’s track and field team went all over the Des Moines metro area over the last few days as it competed one final time before the league championship.
The Statesmen put athletes into action at the Simpson Kip Janvrin Open, the Grand View Viking Classic, and the prestigious Drake Relays.
Simpson Kip Janvrin Open
D’Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) guided the navy and gold by not only breaking his own school record, but also hitting the ‘B’ standard. He did that in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a sixth-place time of 9:24.64. His previous school record was 9:38.87.
Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) also locked up a nationals berth as he won the triple jump with a provisional standard of 47-5.
Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering) was next for William Penn, placing third in the 800-meter run in 1:54.78.
The tiro of John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering), Jeremiah Conteh (Sr., Shorewood, Wis., English), and Tom Nyandoro (Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., Information Technology) also ended up in the top 10. Webb did so in the 200-meter dash (8th, 22.45), while Conteh’s performance was in the hammer throw (8th, 159-7) and Nyandoro’s was in the 400-meter hurdles (9th, 58.61).
Conteh finished 20th in the discus as well at 125-9.
Steven Murray (Sr., Missouri Valley, Iowa, Sociology), in 12th (44-1.5), and Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services), in 15th (43-1.5), also ended up in the top 15 in the shot put.
Bennett Polite (Jr., Kearney, Mo., Fine Arts) claimed a pair of top-half placings, taking 13th in the 200-meter dash in 22.78 seconds and 35th in the 100 in 11.34 seconds. Rayan Antonia (So., Willensted, Curacao, Business Management) was a bit better than Polite in the 100 (30th, 11.26).
Jaden Loveless (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, Industrial Technology) led the rest of the Statesmen as he was 15th in the 400-meter dash (52.13), while Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management) was 16th in the 1,500-meter run (4:03.40).
Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) had a pair of top-half efforts, taking 22nd in the 800 (2:00.31) and 34th in the 1,500 (4:10.34), while Ethan Varvelo (Jr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology) was 35th in the 1,500 (4:10.94).
Drake Relays
The quartet of Heckenberg, Love, Williams, and Beaver won the Iowa College division crown in the distance medley relay with a new school-record time of 10:12.53 (old record was 10:40.28 in 2023).
Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) also performed well as he was 13th in the 100 in 10.58 seconds.
Grand View Viking Classic
Tahj Ferguson (Sr., Hartford, Conn., Psychology) was the only Statesmen at the GVU event, but he represented well, winning the 100 in 11.59 seconds and placing second in the long jump at 23-0.75.
Next Up: William Penn travels to Baldwin City, Kan. next Friday and Saturday to compete in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship.
