Distance Runners Break School Records at SAU Finals Week Meet

Davenport--The William Penn men's distance runners built off their momentum from the cross country campaign as the indoor track and field team fared quite well at the St. Ambrose Finals Week Invitational Saturday.

As a team, WPU placed third out of 10 teams with 114 points, while Loras won the trophy with 151 points.

Brandon Williams (Jr., Fountain, Colo., Civil Engineering) and Max Finley (So., Richville, N.Y., Computer Science) both claimed titles with school-record performances.

Williams broke Finley's one-mile run record from 2023 (4:29.34) with a winning time of 4:24.66.  Finley then snapped a six-year-old record in the 3,000-meter run, finishing first in a time of 8:41.94; the old record of 8:42.61 was held by Jamal Boma since 2017.

Jonah Heckenberg (Sr., Stockport, Iowa, Business Management) also bettered the old one-mile run mark, placing second in 4:27.71, while D'Artagnon Beaver (Jr., Rockford, Ill., Undecided) was right behind Finley in the 3,000, ending up with silver at 8:48.80.

Three more individuals finished second, including Showalter Johnson (Jr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) in the 200-meter dash in 22.71 seconds.  Micah Mills (Fr., Houston, Texas, Psychology) was also in the runner-up position in the long jump at 21-11.5, while taking third in the triple jump as well at 44-8.25.

Anthony Weaver (Fr., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) brought up a silver in the triple jump at 45-5.75 in addition to being fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.80 seconds (8.73 in the prelims).

Andrew Miller (Fr., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) gave the Statesmen a sweep of the top three spots in the mile as he was third in 4:32.75; the freshman was also seventh in the 3,000 (9:22.60).  Keaten Griffen (So., Longview, Texas, Industrial Technology) placed third in the pole vault (14-3.5) as well.

Fifth-place finishes came from Kwabena Banahene (Fr., Fontana, Calif., Undecided) in the high jump (5-9.75) and John Webb (Fr., Dothan, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) in the triple jump (44-4.75), while Tom Nyandoro (Jr., Wake Forest, N.C., Information Technology) (8.87 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, 8.83 in the prelims) and Jalen Morris (Fr., Grimes, Iowa, Business Management) (21-1.25 in the long jump) both placed sixth in their respective events.

Xzavion West (So., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) guided William Penn's throwers with two top-half placings, taking 11th in the weight throw (48-10) and 15th in the shot put (41-4.25).

Christopher Smith (So., Chicago, Ill., Business Management), in 7.26 seconds, and Bennett Polite (Jr., Kearney, Mo., Fine Arts), in 7.28 seconds, were also 15th and 17th, respectively, in the 60-meter dash to cap WPU's best outings.

"With still not having our entire roster competing, we are definitely starting to piece things together," Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said.  "Our distance runners competed with us for the first time since they closed out cross country conference and nationals and took down two school records as they are continuing to build off the success from the fall.  We are excited to watch them progress.  For records to be falling and some knocking on the door of more records, while national standards are being hit this early across our entire team, it is showing the hunger and drive these athletes have and we are not even into the bulk of the season.  This was a good meet to cap off a very hard-working fall season."

Next Up: William Penn is off until the new year, traveling to Waverly on Saturday, January 13 as it competes in the Wartburg Chelsey Henkenius Open.