Beaver and Company Lead WPU to Bronze at Heart Championship

Maryville, Mo.--D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) was one of the most dominating figures on the track Friday and Saturday as he led the Statesmen men's track and field team at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Indoor Championship.

As a team, William Penn was third out of 12 squads with 110 points, while Benedictine (133.5) nipped Mount Mercy (132) for the team title.  It marks the highest league indoor finish for the Statesmen since taking second in 2017.

Beaver helped the navy and gold to a mountain of points, winning both the one-mile run in 4:19.74 and the 3,000-meter run in 8:45.56.  His mile time breaks his own record from earlier this season.

The junior was a part of winning 4x800-meter relay team that also set a new program mark in 7:49.75.  The grouping included Beaver, Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering), Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management), and Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) and snapped the old mark of 8:06.96 from a year ago by Williams, Heckenberg, Ethan Varvelo (Jr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology), and Max Finley (So., Richville, N.Y., Computer Science).

The 4x8 crew also punched its ticket for nationals by hitting the finish line under the 'B' standard.

Finally, the distance medley relay quartet of Heckenberg, Miller, Varvelo, and Jaden Loveless (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, Industrial Technology) won the conference title with a time of 10:33.90.

Williams narrowly missed a pair of Heart crowns, finishing second in both the 800-meter run (1:55.06) and 1,000-meter run (2:31.56).  Heckenberg was close behind him in the 1,000, taking fourth at 2:32.48.

Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) claimed a pair of scoring performances as he was third in the 60-meter dash (6.84) and fifth in the 200-meter dash (21.94).  Keaten Griffen (So., Longview, Texas, Industrial Technology) won bronze as well in the pole vault at 14-5.25.

Although WPU did not claim gold in the triple jump, the standings were thick with Statesmen as they went 3-4-5-6, led by John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) and his third-place effort of 45-0.25.  Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) was fourth (44-11), Micah Mills (Fr., Houston, Texas, Psychology) was fifth (44-8.25), and Tom Nyandoro (Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., Information Technology) was sixth (43-8).

Weaver, in sixth (8.75), and Nyandoro, in seventh (8.79), also put points on the board for William Penn in the 60-meter hurdles.

The throwing crew found success at the Championship as well with Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services) heading the charge with a pair of scores.  The junior was seventh in the weight throw (51-7) and eighth in the shot put (45-0.5).

Jeremiah Conteh (Sr., Shorewood, Wis., English) recorded the best individual throwing effort as he was fourth in the weight throw at 53-2.25, while Xzavion West (So., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) managed a seventh-place finish in the shot put at 45-5.

Steven Murray (Sr., Missouri Valley, Iowa, Sociology) just missed scoring in the shot put as he was ninth (43-3.25).

"Nail-biting, exciting, holding our breath are just a few of the ways to describe what we were feeling at the end of the meet this weekend," Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said.  "We sat down as a coaching staff before the meet and knew we had a chance at a plaque.  We told our athletes that they had the ability to do something special, but they were going to have to dig deep within themselves, and, boy, did they rise to the challenge."

"Our DMR finish really helped light the fire and D'Artagnon Beaver continued his dominance," Vinokur added.  "The reaction of our coaches and athletes--both male and female--when they realized they had won third place is something that is going to be engrained in my head for a very long time.  This team and staff more than deserve it; this is just the start for this entire program."

Next Up: A substantial squad will represent William Penn at the NAIA National Championship from February 29-March 2 in Brookings, S.D.