Gannon Cornley II
Students Sports Media
On Thursday, March 9, the Grizzlies men’s and women’s track team hosted their first outdoor meet of the season for the Butch Reynolds Invite.
The men started the outdoor season off right with 10 first place finishes. Kyandre Lyons won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.76 seconds. Eliud Koech placed first in the 1500-meter run. Boniface Kiptoo won the 5000-meter run. Jhibri Greer got first in the 110 hurdles running a time of 15 seconds flat. Kurth Collins won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.49 seconds. Emmanuel Biwott won the 3000 Steeplechase race. Kyandre Lyons, Travis Collins, Akeem Sirleaf and Andre Ewers continued their winning trend with a first place victory in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 40.13 seconds. Mario Thomas, Jameel Austin, Traion Poellnitz and Kurth Collins won the 4×400 relay. In the field events, Elijah Smith won the long jump with a jump of 22 feet, 5 inches. Smith also won the triple jump with a winning jump of 48 feet, 2 inches.
The women, much like the men, dominated and took home nine first place finishes. Javonda Peagler won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.37 seconds. Tashoy Blake came out on top in the 200-meter dash winning with a time of 25.34 seconds. Helen Thames got first in the 400-meter dash. Roshea Burrell finished first in the 1500-meter run. Jade Searles won the 5000-meter run. Janelle Carty came in first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.61 seconds. Janie Salinas won the 3000 steeple-chase race in 13:30.46 seconds. Javonda Peagler, Kylia Smith, Tashoy Blake and Alexxis Milner won the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 46.72 seconds. In field events, Beanie Luttig won the discus with a winning throw of 134 feet.
Luttig shared her thoughts about her event after winning the discus.
“A lot of people think it’s all muscle, but mostly it’s technique and then the muscle comes behind it,” Luttig said. “You have to put your feet in the right place and keep your body in control. At the college level it takes a lot of preparation and a lot of footwork.”
The Grizzlies competed on Saturday, April 1, for the Tiger Invite at Cowley College in Arkansas City.