WINFIELD, Kan. – A beautiful day in Winfield for the Mike Kirkland SC Relays inside Richard L. Jantz Stadium on Saturday resulted in multiple major developments for the Moundbuilder men's and women's outdoor track and field squads. The most standout performances of the day came from the SC 4x100m Relay quartets, who each reached their respective NAIA 'A' Qualifying Standard to reach the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Marion, Ind.
Southwestern's women 4x100m Relay team ran their race in 47.67 seconds, which broke a longstanding program record in the event. In 2006, LaToya Nash, Nique Wallace, Krystle Robinson and Ashley Findley reached a time of 47.82 seconds, which has stood as the school record since then. With their effort on Saturday, Lily Blankenship, Rachel Booker, Kyah Hill and Lauryn Terry have been etched into the school's record books as the record holders for the institution.
The men's 4x100m Relay squad, consisting of Philip Jones, Kiare Worthy, Nick Jones and Keyshawn Jones, ran their race in 41.36 seconds, becoming a qualifier for the NAIA National Championships in the end of May. Both the men and the women came in second in the event for Southwestern.
In field events, the Javelin was tossed nicely by both Gabby Murchison (2nd, 113'6") and Lucy Daniel (4th, 106'11") on the women's side. Meanwhile, the SC men did not have a Javelin thrower compete.
Alejandra Handie (6th, 120'10") and Paiden Bell (8th, 114'0") each finished in the top 10 for the Builders in the women's Hammer Throw, while Trevor Peterson (14th, 107'9") was the top thrower for the SC men in the event.
Peterson also did a nice job for the men in the Discus event, ending up in 9th place with a throw of 121'3".
That was followed by women's Shot Put, where Bell tallied a 34'6.75" heave to come in 10th place and secure another top-10 finish. Jaylen Spencer matched her efforts on the men's side with a 10th-place finish. He threw his shot 37'3.75" to be a member of the top 10.
SC would forgo many of the jumping events, but did send Meliah Hanna to the High Jump, where she finished fifth with a leap of 4'11" on her final attempt at the mark. She tried to leap to 5'1", but could not make it over the bar, finishing in fifth.
K. Jones and P. Jones came in seventh and ninth places, respectively, in the 100m Dash. A time of 10.90 for K. Jones earned him a place in the finals, but he did not start. P. Jones came just a spot shy of reaching the final race at 10.96. Rachel Booker ended up coming in fourth in the women's 100m Dash, clocking in at 12.47 seconds.
The 200m Dash was heavily dominated by the Southwestern women's squad, who had Hill (2nd, 25.16), Hanna (3rd, 25.57), Terry (5th, 25.93) and Booker (9th, 26.06) in the top 10. N. Jones was the only men's runner to finish in the top 10 in the same event, clocking in at 22.11 in fifth place.
Kacie Lancaster (1st, 5:10.48) and Kirstin Hackney (2nd, 5:12.77) took the top two spots for the Builder women in the 1500m. They each posted career-best marks in the race, adding to what was an already stellar day for Southwestern. Austin Schaeffer (1st, 4:02.81) followed their lead to a victory in the men's 1500m. For Schaeffer, it was also his best ever time in the 1500m. Meseret Elgin (7th, 4:11.76) and Mason Blochowiak (8th, 4:12.49) also finished in the top 10 for their squad.
In the women's 400m Run, Hanna came in fourth place with a time of 59.20, while Antwone Crawford was the SC men's best runner in the same event, clocking in at 50.65 and finishing fifth overall.
Hackney (1st, 2:27.82) and Lancaster (3rd, 2:34.17) continued their torrid days with top-three finishes in the women's 800m Run. Then, Luis Bellor-Gardner obliterated his previous career-best time in the 800m Run to finish in fifth place with a time of 2:01.74 for the Moundbuilder men.
Kentayshija Pruitt came about as close as possible to winning the women's 400m Hurdles on Saturday. She finished the race in 1:06.48, which put her just .01 seconds behind the event winner.
Maliki Pope (2nd, 16:31.30) and Andrew Mitchell (3rd, 17:20.23) posted good times in the 5000m, as Mitchell posted his best time of his freshman year in Winfield. Pope posted the second-place finish in his final home track meet.
On the women's side, the Moundbuilders' 4x400m Relay was the only one to compete, as they posted a clip of 4:04.83. Pruitt, Booker, Hanna and Hill ran for SC in the race. The men would tie for third place out of nine teams in the competition. Worthy, Tyshawn Brownfield, Crawford and Kyle Richardson clocked in at 3:23.36.
It was a majorly impressive day for Southwestern, as seniors were honored in the process. Ablel Gebreselase, Booker, Pruitt, Lancaster, Murchison, Pope, Elgin, K. Jones, P. Jones and Gabriel Vannucchi competed in their last home track meets of their collegiate careers on Saturday. The first two qualifiers of the season became the 4x100m Relay squads for SC, and the women became immortal with their school record time. More track & field is on the way, as the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships are set to occur on May 4-5 in Hillsboro, Kan. The event will be hosted by Tabor College, as Southwestern has lofty goals for their success at the conference meet.
--buildersports.com--
