More Qualifications, More Records Broken as WPU Competes in Last Chance Meets

Joliet, Ill./Seward, Neb./Kearney, Neb.--The William Penn men's track and field team took advantage of one final competition weekend as it battled at three separate meets last Friday and Saturday in hopes of expanding its nationals squad.

WPU did indeed add more individuals to its travel roster with Andrew Miller (So., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science), Xzavion West (Jr., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided), and the 4x800-meter relay team all hitting qualifying standards.

At St. Francis Fighting Chance Invite

Miller paced the solo runners in Illinois last Friday as he hit the 'B' standard in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:24.69.  The sophomore placed seventh overall.

The 4x8 crew of Ethan Varvelo (Sr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology), Gavin Huff (Fr., Mascoutah, Ill.), D'Artagnon Beaver (Sr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services), and Brandon Williams (Sr., Fountain, Colo., Engineering Technology) also punched tickets for nationals by meeting the provisional standard with a time of 7:41.98 (third place).

The relay team's time not only qualified for nationals, but also broke the school record from 2024 of 7:43.70.

Carson Springer (So., Grimes, Iowa, Business Management) had the highest WPU finish at the meet, finishing second in the 5,000-meter run in 15:37.17.

At Concordia Twilight

West once again broke his own school record in the hammer throw, destroying the old mark (193-9) with a winning toss of 198-9 last Friday.

The junior was far from done as he became a two-event qualifier, doing so in the shot put with a provisional-standard and winning mark of 54-7.25.

Additionally, John Webb (So., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) was fifth in the triple jump at 44-11, while Travaughn Robbins-Hall (Fr., Lauderhill, Fla., Software Engineering) took 15th in the 100-meter dash in 11.11 seconds.

At Nebraska Kearney Loper Twilight

Webb also competed in the long jump last Saturday, ending up eighth at 22-1.

"We knew we had some good chances to get more qualifiers, and quite a few of our guys stepped up to the challenge," Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said.  "We are excited to see what we can do at nationals.  Our athletes have worked hard for this, and we cannot wait to see it all hopefully pay off."

Next Up: The team's national qualifiers will travel to Marion, Ind. next Wednesday through Friday to compete in the NAIA National Championship.