Distance Runners Qualify for Nationals at Grinnell

Grinnell--A pair of school records, two qualifications, and a handful of titles headlined the efforts by the William Penn men's track and field team at the Grinnell Invitational Saturday.

William Penn took home the team crown with 148 points in the seven-team field, while Graceland was a distant second with 101 points.

Topping the long list of accomplishments was the distance medley relay team of Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management), John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering), Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering), and D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) which broke the school record and qualified for nationals ('B' standard) with a time of 10:22.70.  The team, which was the only squad to run in the event, broke the old mark of 10:30.42 from a year ago.

Beaver then qualified ('B' standard) and broke a school record individually as he won the 3,000-meter run race in a time of 8:38.36.  His time bettered the old record of 8:41.94 by his teammate Max Finley (So., Richville, N.Y., Computer Science) from earlier this year.

"For our DMR crew to run the time that they did on their own, I am excited to see what they can do with some competition right next to them," Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said.  "It was so fun to see them qualify for nationals and break the school and facility records, and to watch our entire team hype them up was a sight to behold.  D'Artagnon has had some amazing performances in the last two weeks.  He is progressing through the year so well, but is nowhere near finished yet."

Beaver and the DMR join Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) as NAIA national qualifiers; Johnson has qualified in the 60-meter dash.

Speaking of Johnson, he headlined the sprinters with titles in the 60 (6.86 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (22.83 seconds).

Jaden Loveless (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa, Industrial Technology) and Heckenberg extended WPU's domination of the short races.  Loveless won the 400-meter dash in 53.22 seconds, while Heckenberg claimed gold in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:00.88.

Loveless was also 15th in the 200 (24.22), while Webb placed fourth (23.29) and Harrison Makovec (So., Ankeny, Iowa, Computer Science) was 17th (24.32).  Tahj Ferguson (Sr., Hartford, Conn., Psychology), who was ninth (7.25) and Rayan Antonia (So., Willensted, Curacao, Business Management), who took 11th (7.33), were both high placers in the 60 as well.

Makovec ended up fifth in the 400 as well in 54.65 seconds.

Micah Mills (Fr., Houston, Texas, Psychology) guided the jumpers with a silver in the triple jump at 44-11.75, while also taking seventh in the long jump (19-11).  Tristan Dejong (Fr., Knoxville, Iowa, Sports Management) was fifth in the long jump at 20-0.25, while Ferguson was also at 20-0.25 and took sixth.

Williams earned bronze in the 3,000 in a time of 9:07.73, while Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) managed two top-five finishes by placing third in the triple jump (44-2.5) and fourth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.77).

Tom Nyandoro (Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., Information Technology) was right behind Weaver in the 60 hurdles, hitting the line in fifth in 8.79 seconds.

Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) walked off with a seventh-place showing in the one-mile run (4:34.04), while Max Finley (So., Richville, N.Y., Computer Science) was the navy and gold's best 5,000-meter runner in eighth place at 15:45.82.

A handful of Statesmen throwers produced high finishes as well, led by Xzavion West (So., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) who was fourth in the weight throw at 51-3 and ninth in the shot put at 41-0.25.  Steven Murray (Sr., Missouri Valley, Iowa, Sociology) matched West by ending up fourth in the shot put (44-3.25).

Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services), in fifth (44-3.25), and Jeremiah Conteh (Sr., Shorewood, Wis., English), in sixth (42-1.5), performed well in the shot put.

Marshall was also sixth in the weight throw (51-0.75), while Conteh placed seventh in the event (48-11) and Ethan Harrington (Sr., Melcher, Iowa, Sports Management) was 12th (39-3).

"Although it was still a strong day, we definitely had a mixed bag of performances," Vinokur said.  "Our athletes felt some frustrations for being so close, but just not quite executing everything we are doing at practice.  It is great to see what they are expecting of themselves and watching them put their best foot forward no matter what."

Next Up: William Penn travels to Maryville, Mo. next Thursday through Saturday to compete in the Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Open.