SEMO track competes in Samford Open

Senior Kaitlyn Shea continued her dominance, winning her third straight 3,000 meter race in 10:01.63 as Southeast track and field resumed its indoor season at the Samford Open on Jan. 19 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama.

A total of 25 different schools competed in the meet, with 24 schools competing on the women’s side and 20 schools competing on the men’s side.

Senior Anya Tonga placed first in the shot put (44 feet, 5.25 inches,) and weight throw (58-5.25) to kick off the meet. Senior McKenna Baker placed third in the same shot put event, throwing 43-2.5.

Senior Stephen Zagurski then took first in the men’s weight throw with his career best throw of 59-7.50.

Senior Anna Thomas then placed second in the mile with her personal best time of 5:15.23. Junior Danielle Mohrmann finished right after in third with a time of 5:18.06.

Junior Carli Knott placed second in the women’s 1,000 meters at 2:55.65, beating the meet record set last year (2:59.06), while Kennesaw State’s Brenda Ayuk became the new meet record holder with a time of 2:51.54. SEMO’s freshman Claire Morrill (3:03.98) earned fourth place.

Senior Rachel Hutchcraft finished second in the 5,000 meter women’s, with a time of 18:09.18.

The SEMO women’s relay team took third in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:58.25 to finish off the meet.

In the men’s 1,000 meters, sophomore Austin Perkins finished third with his personal best of 2:34.46.

Senior Sierra Maddox placed third in the women’s pole vault, jumping a height of 11-5.75. Senior Keanna Theobalt took fifth while freshman Katie Schumer took seventh.

Three Redhawks finished in the top ten of the men’s 800 meters, with freshman Keaton Jones getting third (1:56.42), freshman Colin Jones getting seventh (1:57.28) and junior David Plunkett getting ninth (1:58.57).

Freshman Ellie Gamradt tied for a fourth place finish in the women’s high jump with a height of 5-3.

Freshman Alec Morrissey got fifth place in the men’s pole vault, with a career high jump of 14-5.25.

Junior Logan Blomquist took fifth in the shot put with a throw of 51-10. Zagurski took seventh in the shot put with a 50-5.12 throw.

Freshman Lauryn James was fifth in the women’s long jump with a distance of 17-8.25 .

Junior Leslie Brooks also placed fifth in the triple jump with a score of 37-0.25.

Junior Griffin Bailey placed sixth in the 3,000 meter men’s, with a finish of 9:02.02.

Sophomore Kristen Carter (9.14) finished in sixth in the 60m hurdle finals for women, while junior Nick South (8.63) got seventh for men’s.

In the men’s 5,000 meter, senior Curtis Reed (15:53.65) finished sixth and sophomore Chris Durr (16:06.82) placed eighth.

Senior Haile Wilson finished seventh in the 60 meter dash finals after advancing through the preliminary and semifinal races. His time was 6.9 seconds.

Sophomore Colin Schwab placed ninth in the 400 meter race in 49.88 seconds.

Freshman Maddie Keller finished in tenth place in the 800 meters in 2:28.06.

This meet gave the Redhawks their first taste of the CrossPlex, which will host the Ohio Valley Conference Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship on Feb. 20-21.

The track and field team’s next meet is in Bloomington, Indiana, for the Indiana Relays on Jan. 25 and 26.