Des Moines, Iowa-- It was a meet to remember for the men's track and field squad on Friday, April 13th as they competed in the Jim Duncan Invitational hosted by Drake University. The Warrior men saw four school records fall and collected nine top 3 finishes at the high profile meet.
Arguably the most impressive feat of the meet came from Deterio Newman in the men's 400m and 200m. Coming out of the second fastest heat, Newman shattered the 400m school record by nearly a full second, crossing the finish line in 48.67, winning the event by a half second. This mark was just .27 seconds away from the national qualifying mark. Newman doubled back in the 200m to run a wind legal 21.66, just .16 seconds from the national qualifying standard. This earned Newman a second place finish and also demolished the previous outdoor school record set by Raykwon McClenny last week (21.98). Raykwon McClenny continued his streak of top 3 performances. McClenny finished second in the 110 hurdles (14.97) before going on to run 21.82 for third place in the 200m. Brieon Randle also had an impressive day at the Blue Oval, taking second in the 400m (49.23) and eighth in the men's 200m (22.24). McClenny's 200m mark and Randle's 400m time rank second fastest outdoors in program history.
Chris Kubli was the third Warrior to take home a new school record despite being in the second fastest seeded 800m heat. Kubli lead from start to finish, finishing in 1:57.39 to break his previous school record and finish second overall. Freshman Jeremy Leath stepped up big for the men's sprint squad. Leath entered the meet with personal bests of 52.06 and 23.64 in the 400m and 200m, respectively. The freshman from Alabama crushed these marks, running 50.95 and 22.70, placing 8th in the 400m. Bernard McCann III and Montray Chambers also had notable performances. McCann III ran 11.06 in the 100m dash to finish 9th. He went on to split 50.2 in the lead leg of the 4x400m relay that placed third. Chambers matched his collegiate best in the 100m (11.30) before setting a collegiate personal best in the 200m (22.67). Gianni Berry had a personal best in the 100m (11.90) and a season's best in the 200m (24.58). Rahman Burton also had an impressive triple performance, running 52.41 in the 400m, 23.38 in the 200m as well as splitting a 50.6 in the 4x400m relay. The 4x400m relay comprised of McCann III, Leath, Burton and Kubli broke the outdoor school record, running 3:21.15.
Nathan Winters set the tone for the field events. The University of Iowa commit had his furthest throw of the season in the shot put (16.80m), winning by over four feet. The high jump duo of Colton Lanman and Damond Anderson placed second and fourth. Lanman cleared 1.98m, while Anderson jumped 1.88m. Doug Turner finished 11th in the Javelin with a toss of 39.13m. For the distance squad, Cameron Schroeder set a personal best in the 1,500m run (4:18.04), while Garrett Hinson was close behind in 4:21.68. Zachary Houghland and Clayton Grainger placed 9th and 10th in the unseeded 5,000m run.
The men's track and field team will head to one of the nation's most prestigious meets next week. Those who qualify will travel to Lawrence, Kansas Thursday, April 19 through Saturday April, 21st to compete in the Kansas Relays.