The Principia College track and field teams opened the indoor season at home with a two day meet on Friday and Saturday January 25-26. The first day featured Jon Ansumana competing in his first heptathlon. Jon won three of the four events on day one (first in 60 meter dash, long jump, and high jump and second in shot put) and led the event by 556 points. On day two he won one of the three events (first in 1,000 meter run, third in pole vault, and fourth in 60 meter hurdles) and finished the competition with a win and a new school record for heptathlon. His 4199 points was 439 points better than second place in the meet, and beat the old school record of 3,366 points set by Geoffrey Hibbs in 2015.
The next school record to go down on Friday was the men's 60 meter record held by Platini Diakabana in 7.08 from 2005.
Corey Carter ran 7.06 seconds to qualify for Saturday's finals where he placed fourth with a time of 7.09. The 60 meter dash also featured several Principians competing in their first college track meet: Joey Onyechi, Brian Malambwe, Nick Saucedo, and Jordan Bond.
On Saturday in the 200 meter dash, Corey broke his own old mark of 22.58 set in 2018. He ran a 22.28 to place second. In his third event, the 4x200 meter relay he teamed up with Josh Aleman,
Dean Colarossi, and Brian Malambwe to set another school record. The men placed second with a time of 1:34.07 to beat a time from 2018 of 1:34.38.
Another school record was broken twice.
Quinn Heinbaugh's 300 meter dash record of 39.15 set in 2018 was bested by Josh Aleman who placed second with a time of 37.01 and Brian Malambwe who ran 38.66. Other first time performances were turned in by Josh Keeley in the 300 and mile run where he placed ninth among college athletes with a time of 5:02.
In the field events, Stan Ott also competed in his first college meet. Stan put his shot 9.2 meters (30' 2.25"). Junior
Chris Puduski has been a thrower for two years prior, but this was his first time competing in the weight throw where he placed eighth with 11.58 meters (38').
Also, it was fun having alums
Nick Lynch and
Zach Matthiesen competing as unattached athletes in the mile and 3,000 meter races. Competing unattached or as part of clubs is a big part of college track meets.
Click here to see the full results from the Panther Invite. The Men's and Women's Track and Field teams continue competition next Saturday with a meet at Illinois College.
A big thank you goes to the baseball team for all of the volunteer hours they gave to help run this meet. There were many other volunteers from our Principia community along with Marquette High School Track and Field team. We cannot run track meets without a lot of volunteers at the announcers and the clerk's table, helping out at the field events, assisting the timers, and cleaning up. Thank you all!
Â
