Gannon Cornley II
Student Sports Media
On Friday, Jan. 20, Butler’s men’s and women’s track team started off the New Year with two indoor meets, one at the University of Missouri Invitational and the other at Johnson County Community College for the Cavalier Night Relays.
The men started the Missouri Invitational off great with a one-two punch in the 60-meter dash with sophomore Andre Ewers winning the race with a time of 6.72 seconds and freshman Travis Collins finishing second in 6.82 seconds. The men continued the winning trend in the 200-meter race. Sophomore Akeem Sirleaf won the 200-meter dash with the time 22.06 seconds. Sophomore Quintaveon Poole won the 400-meter dash in 48.03 seconds. Jhibri Greer won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.20 seconds.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team of Akeem Sirleaf, Jamoul Pierre, Andre Ewers and Quintaveon Poole won the event in 3:20.10. In the field events, Landon Cuskelly won the High Jump with a jump of 2.05 meters (6 feet, 7 inches). In the Triple Jump, Elijah Smith won the event with a winning jump of 14.91 meters (48 feet, 9 inches). On the women’s side, Valeriya Kostiuk won the High Jump with a jump of 1.75 meters (5 feet, 7 inches).
At the Cavalier Night Relays, Butler’s men won the Distance Medley with a time of 10:57.71. There were many athletes to qualify for the finals for both track and field events. No team scores were kept for the meet. For the women, Kylia Smith and Angel Malone placed first and second in the Long Jump. Smith’s winning jump was 5.45 meters (17 feet, 8 inches).
“I am extremely proud of the way we competed,” Head Coach Ryan Turner said. “It was really exciting to showcase our talent vs D1 schools. Being able to present eight winners shows our ability and talent on our team. I hope we can continue to compete at that level until the end of the season.”
The Grizzlies’ next meet was hosted at Pittsburg State for the Pitt State Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 28.