Wichita, Kan.- Ottawa's Track & Field
teams made their season debut on ESPN+ at the KT Woodman Classic hosted by Wichita State on Friday and Saturday, and posted some impressive marks once again. The action at Wichita State kicked off on Friday night, and the Braves didn't wait long to show multiple NCAA Division I opponents that division labels and school size don't matter as much in track and field.
Jacob Ludwick won the javelin throw event with a mark of 62.19 meters, out-throwing 30 other athletes from across the region. Chase Hight also participated in the javelin throw, placing 10th overall with a throw of 52.34 meters and beating his previous personal best by over 7m. In the women's javelin, Juliet Lane had a personal-best throw of 27.09 meters, placing 21st overall.
In Friday night's running events, Athens Fawkes had a personal best in the 800m run of 2:04.22, placing 36th overall. Jordan Mitchell clocked a personal-best time of 4:37.65 in the 1500m run, while Abigail Bird and Samantha Moreno also ran PB's in the women's 1500m run.
The Braves returned to Wichita State Saturday morning, and for the second week in a row strong winds arrived just as the meet kicked off. This time, however, OU didn't seem to be fazed by the 30mph gusts. The men's 4x100m relay team--comprised of Domonic Atkinstall, Jaylan Washington, Cameron Jackson, and Xavier Garza, ran an NAIA national championship qualifying mark of 41.21, becoming the 10th national championship qualifying performance for OU this season, but the Braves weren't done yet.
Shortly after the men's 4x100, JayOnna Perry punched yet another ticket to the national championship, this time in the women's 400m dash. She overcame a strong headwind in the home stretch to finish with a time of 56.50, nearly breaking Adia Vaughn's school record of 56.21. She followed that up by winning the 400m hurdle title a short time later, overcoming strong winds and a large deficit in the last 50 meters to take the win in 1:03.19.
Jordyn Weems also had an impressive day as well, running wind-aided (and therefore unofficial) personal best times of 12.01 in the 100 meters and 24.45 in the 200 meters. In the long jump however, the wind was not a factor and Weems took advantage by recording a new personal best leap of 5.87m (19' 3"), breaking her own school record from just a few weeks ago. The jump moved her back up to #5 on the NAIA leaderboard.
Other impressive performances from the day include Domonic Atkinstall running a huge PR of 10.65 in the 100m dash, following that up with another PR of 49.01 in the 400m dash, and then running a wind-aided time of 21.93 in the 200m dash. Anaya Vil ran a PR of 1:02.91 in the 400 meters and followed that up with a PR in the triple jump of 10.56m. Jordan Mitchell returned after Friday's PR in the 1500m run and ran PR on Saturday—this time in the 800m with a time of 2:02.33. Hadyn Bieling once again earned a top 3 finish in the high jump with a season-best mark of 2.04m (6' 8").
New official personal best performances:
Domonic Atkinstall-100m
Domonic Atkinstall-400m
Athens Fawkes-800m
Brendon Fuller-800m
Brendon Fuller-1500m
Chase Hight-javelin
Cameron Jackson-200m
Jordan Mitchell-800m
Jordan Mitchell-1500m
DeAndray Rhodes-triple jump
Abigail Bird-400m
Abigail Bird-800m
Abigail Bird-1500m
Juliet Lane-javelin
Samantha Moreon-1500m
JayOnna Perry-400m
Anaya Vil-400m
Anaya Vil-triple jump
Jordyn Weems-long jump
Treianna Williams-hammer throw
With just two meets remaining before the conference championship, the Braves now have 10 athletes who have qualified for 11 different events at the national championship taking place May 22nd through the 24th in Marion, Indiana:
2024 National Championship Qualifiers:
Men's 100m: Jaylan Washington
Men's 110m hurdles: Kayron Johnson
Men's 400m hurdles: Kayron Johnson
Men's 4x100m relay: Domonic Atkinstall, Jaylan Washington, Cameron Jackson, Xavier Garza
Men's high jump: Hadyn Bieling
Men's javelin: Jacob Ludwick
Women's 100m hurdles: JayOnna Perry
Women's 400m hurdles: JayOnna Perry
Women's 400m dash: JayOnna Perry
Women's long jump: Jordyn Weems
Women's discus: Deja Delaine
The Braves will be in action again this week at the Kansas Relays as they enter the final 2 and half weeks of the outdoor season.
