Fayette, Mo. - The Central Methodist Track and Field program had a strong showing in the outdoor opener this past weekend at Davis Field and Hairston Track.
Central hosted the CMU Open, which featured hundreds of athletes from 14 different schools.
The Eagles had several notable performances and national qualifiers at the meet, highlighted by Colder Evans. The junior had an impressive outing in all three throwing events, hitting the 'A' standard in the Shot Put and 'B' standard in both the Hammer and Discus.
Evans won the Shot Put with a final toss of 16.09 meters, as well as the Discus with a throw of 48.50 meters. He concluded his day with a first-place finish in the Hammer Throw with a toss of 53.64 meters, more than three meters better than second place.
Brayton Stephenson finished second behind Evans in the Shot Put with a throw of 15.20 meters. He also placed fifth in the Discus with a throw of 41.35 meters.
The men's 4x100m relay team of Adam Trachsel, Chris Adekoya, Leroy Williams, and Caleb Cody-Jackson hit the 'B' standard in the relay in a time of 41.37 seconds. Cody-Jackson won the 200m dash in 21.96 seconds, while Jack Schiffhauer placed second in the 400 at 51.73 seconds.
Hunter Mont Cary won the 400m Hurdles in a time of 55.71 seconds. In the middle distance races, Doriye Jackson placed third in the 1500m run in 4:08.45. Meshack Kiptanui placed fourth in the 3,000m run in 9:15.51.
Central went 1-2-3 in the pole vault, as Jaxon Hiser placed first with a vault of 4.40 meters. Ethan Smith and Neil Green finished 2-3 in the event to round out the podium finishes.
On the women's side, Central earned two national qualifiers in the first outdoor meet of the year. Kailey Johnson won the 100m hurdles with a national qualifying 'A' standard time of 14.38 seconds. She was also part of the 4x400m relay team of Yanira Paninka, Parys Smith, and Carter Hawkins that won the event in 4:13.35.
Sophomore Baylee Beard hit the national qualifying 'A' standard in the Hammer Throw with a mark of 53.19 meters to finish first. Karli Wolfe and Kali Brown completed the podium sweep in the event, placing second and third with throws of 48.61 and 43.23 meters respectively.
Beard also took first in the Shot Put with a throw of 12.80 meters. Wolfe finished third with a throw of 12.28 meters.
Wolfe concluded her day with a second-place finish in the Discus (48.61m) while Brown placed third in the same event with a mark of 38.97 meters.
Paninka won the 400m dash in 1:00.53 and Sadie Burchett placed fourth in the 1500m run with a time of 5:47.37.
Amara Reichert finished second in the pole vault with a vault of 2.75 meters. Na'Zariah James posted back-to-back second-place finishes in both the long and triple jump, as she posted marks of 5.47m (LJ) and 11.26m (TJ) respectively.
CMU will next compete in the Miner Invitational hosted by Missouri S&T beginning Friday, March 22 in Rolla, Missouri.
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