WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Competing in the Early Bird Invitational at the JDL Fast Track Sunday, the Newberry College men's and women's track and field teams had a promising start to the indoor season.
The Newberry Women were able to produce a pair of first-place finishes and a third-place effort over the course of several events, and the men had a first- and second-place finisher throughout the meet. The Wolves also broke five school records during the meet – one of them broke a meet record as well – to go along with 12 top-10 performances in the Newberry record books.
"Solid effort across the board from each of our event groups," Head Coach
Mashario Morton said. "This is a young team, but not a team to be counted out. I look forward to watching them grow in the sport this season."
For the women,
Leonie Samuels bested the competition in the shot put with a heave of 13.03 meters (42 feet, 9 inches) to win by almost two feet. Samuels' throw was one of the Newberry records broken and is only 0.6 meters from qualifying for nationals. It also leads the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Performance List. Teammate
ShaNadia Marshall placed fifth in the event with a throw of 12.05 meters (39 feet, 6.5 inches).
In the 4x800 meter relay, the quartet of Josie Langtry, Kwamia Russell, Kayleigh Geel and
Alaya Lindquist finished in 11:10.51 to take the top spot by 18 seconds. Lindquist also ran the mile event in 5:30.27 to set a Newberry women's record.
Irma Watson-Peréz's 16.83-meter weight throw (55 feet, 2.75 inches) earned a third-place finish in a field of 29 and leads the SAC Indoor Performance List.
Leading the way for the men's team today was Noel Asiedu in the high jump. Asiedu cleared a 2.05-meter (6 feet, 8.75 inches) bar to finish in a virtual tie for first place in the event that featured 19 participants. Asiedu's national-qualifying jump is tied for No. 8 in all of Division II this season, set a Newberry record and places him in first place on the conference's Indoor Performance List.
"What an amazing start for our program. Typically this meet is just for evaluation and getting an idea of where we are and what we need to work on, and it was still that, but clearly some of our athletes were ready to roll!" Director of Track and Field/XC
Jimmy Stephens said.
Tavarian Thompson's 600-meter time of 1:25.58 was another of the Newberry records broken and it also broke the previous meet record.
The men's 4x400 meter team consisting of Shamar Brown,
Jalen Crumpton,
Kalyn Cook and Justin Canty clocked in at 3:28.27 for a Wolves' record.
Kevin Kipkosgei took home second place in the 5,000-meter race, finishing in 16:25.99. Jonah Wendland was fifth and
Braylon Reier, sixth.
Long jumper
Davison Wright was the fourth-place finisher with a jump of 6.88 meters (22 feet, 7 inches) to beat an impressive 42 other competitors.
Parker Pitts placed fifth out of 30 in the weight throw competition, hurling it 15.37 meters (50 feet, 5.25 inches). Walker Flores (seventh) and
Sean Price (11th) also competed in the event.
"This was an exciting start to our indoor season and we are just getting started. Coach Morton and our staff have done an amazing job with this group of athletes," Coach Stephens concluded.
The Wolves will use the next seven weeks to prepare for the bulk of the 2024 season. Their next meet is Sunday, Jan. 21, again at the JDL Fast Track for the Flat is Fast Invitational.
