Men's Track and Field | 05.23.2024
MARION, Ind. – The men's 4x800m relay once again starred for LC State at the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships with a third-place finish in Thursday's final. The squad captured All-American honors, along with Orofino native
Sydnie Zywina. The Warriors also saw three individuals qualify for event finals on Friday.
The group of
Kobe Wessels,
Cooper Carlson,
Griffen Parsells and
Carter Gordon destroyed the school record with a time of 7:29.42 to finish third in the NAIA.
Conner May ran in the prelim and handed his leg off to Carlson for the final, and all five runners are now All-Americans in the event.
"The men's 4x800 team was the highlight of the day with a third-place showing and crushing the school record that they set the night before," Head Coach
Mike Collins said. "Their time most years would have been good enough to win, just really competitive this year in that event."
Zywina earned her second All-American honor of the year after placing fifth in the triple jump. She broke her own record with a leap of 12.30m in her first attempt.
Gordon ran his individual 800m in his typical fashion. He was last after his first lap before sprinting to the front to win his heat with a time of 1:51.15. He enters the final with the fourth-fastest prelim time. Parsells placed 11th overall (1:51.81).
Lewiston's
Madigan Kelly advanced to her first event final in the 100m hurdles. She clocked a time of 14.28 to finish seventh in the prelims and move on to Friday. Deary native
London Kirk also moved on to Friday with an eighth-place finish in the 400m prelims. He ran his race in 47.12.
"Great start to the day with Madigan making it to the finals for the first time in her career in the 100m hurdles," Collins said. "She has worked incredibly hard this season, so great to see that pay off and hopefully it will accumulate to some hardware on Friday."
The team of
Anika Grogan,
Sara Hathaway,
Geraldin Correa and
Emily Collins finished 21st in the 4x400m relay. The group ran a time of 3:53.65. Senior
Geraldin Correa placed 23rd in the 800m (2:16.90).
"London and Carter making it to the finals in the 400m and 800m really kept things going for us and both should good opportunities to earn All-American status as well," Collins said.
"Geraldin finished off her career in the 800m with a good race, but not quite enough," Collins added. "We thought it was the end, but because of the finals going on later in the triple jump, she was asked to fill in on the women's 4x400 team for Sydnie. The relay posted a season best time. In the meantime, Sydnie earned all-american honors with the two longest jumps of her entire career."
The 2024 season concludes on Friday with a strong group competing in event finals.
Trenton Johnson will compete in the triple jump at 10:30 a.m. PT and
Jennah Carpenter will be in action in the high jump at 11 a.m. PT. Kelly will run the 100m hurdle finals at 11:20 a.m. PT and Kirk's 400m final is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. PT. Gordon will run the 800m final at 1 p.m. PT.
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