Weaver, Johnson Win All-America Laurels at Outdoor Nationals
Marion, Ind.--A pair of record-breaking performances netted All-America laurels as the William Penn men's track and field team competed at the 72nd Annual NAIA National Championship Wednesday through Friday.
WPU tied for 49th place with three points, while Cumberlands (Ky.) edged Marian (Ind.) by two points, 64-62, to claim the national crown.
At the Championship, Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) and Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) became the 33rd and 34th All-Americans in program history. It is the first time since the 2021 outdoor campaign that multiple Statesmen have been on the podium.
Weaver was the first to accomplish the feat, finishing sixth in Friday's triple jump with a school-record mark of 50-0. He joins Javaras Thomas (2010 indoor and outdoor) as William Penn's only triple jump All-Americans. His mark breaks Thomas' previous record of 49-10 from 2010.
After qualifying eighth in Thursday's 100-meter dash preliminaries (school record 10.36 seconds), Johnson bettered that performance Friday afternoon with another program record. The junior, who becomes WPU's third All-American in the 100 (Pat Pilgrim, 1985; Torain Howard, 2002), snapped his own school mark with a blistering time of 10.26 seconds to place seventh overall.
Nick Marshall (Jr., Glenpool, Okla., Human Services), in Wednesday's hammer throw, and Tahj Ferguson (Sr., Hartford, Conn., Psychology), in Thursday's long jump, both placed 21st. Marshall tossed the hammer a distance of 179-3, while Ferguson posted a jump of 21-11.75.
Also on Wednesday, the 4x800-meter relay team of D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services), Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering), Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management), and Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) finished 22nd with a time of 7:51.36.
On Thursday, Williams also ended up 24th in the 800-meter run in 1:54.29, while Beaver was 30th in Wednesday 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 9:47.96.
"Our men put on a show this weekend," Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. "Some things did not fall the way that we had hoped, but that is the way it goes sometimes. Showalter Johnson and Anthony Weaver walking away with hardware and school records was incredible. Showalter has been waiting and building for this moment all year, and to watch that progression reach full fruition was exciting. Anthony has had a heck of a freshman campaign. He was so close in the indoor season, so he was extra hungry during outdoor competition and it showed. It was an exciting weekend and year to be a part of."
