Pella, Iowa— With an undesirable weekend forecast looming ahead, a short-handed Warrior track and field team decided to head to Central College on Thursday, March 5th for the Central College Weather Saver Invitational. Spring break travel plans kept several of the athletes from being able to make the trip. However, this did not keep the men's track and field team from posting several impressive marks.
Freshman Raykwon McClenny lit up the track just hours after hopping off his plane from Virginia Beach. The 3x indoor national qualifier broke the 100m and 200m school records, running 10.99 (first place) and 21.98 (second place), respectively. Half mile specialist, Chris Kubli, dropped down in distance, running the 200m and 400m. Kubli broke the 50 second barrier for the first time in his career, running 49.76 and winning by over a full second.
On the distance side, Garrett Hinson, Zachary Hougland and Cameron Schroeder all ran personal bests in the 1,500m run. Hinson crossed the line in 4:19.67, while Hougland and Schroeder were close behind in 4:20.54 and 4:20.76. The duo of Clayton Grainger and Doug Turner finished 9th and 10th in the men's 5,000m run, crossing the line in 17:00.40 and 17:58.00, respectively.
Another notable performance on the track included Tito Massaly in the men's 100m, finishing 12th in 11.96.
The men had several imposing marks in the field events, led by Colton Lanman's 2.00m jump in the men's high jump. Lanman won the event, narrowly missed the 2.03 height, which would have qualified him for the NJCAA Outdoor National Championships. Damond Anderson had his best high jump performance of his life, clearing 1.90m and taking 4th overall. Nathan Winters was victorious in the shot put (16.14m), while finishing 5th in the discus (45.89). Doug Turner rounded out the men's field events, placing 9th in the javelin (42.33m).
The track and field teams will head to the Blue Oval at Drake University April 13-14th to compete in the Jim Duncan Invitational.