Wichita, Kan.-
The Ottawa Track & Field teams competed this weekend at the Friends University Spring Invitational in Wichita, Kansas. Performances in the running events were inhibited by Saturday's strong winds, but Ottawa's jumpers and throwers were still able to leave an impression on those in attendance.
The women's long jump squad was already ranked 3rd in the NAIA heading into Friday's competition, but may very well be ranked even higher when the new poll comes out on Tuesday. Jordan Weems continued her strong season in the event with another performance over 5 ½ meters when she launched herself 5.62m (18' 5") on her fourth attempt, finishing 3rd in the competition. Not far behind her in 5th place was JayOnna Perry, who had her first-ever jump over 5 ½ meters when she leaped 5.55m ((18' 2") on her final attempt of the day. Carlee Gassman nearly kept pace with Weems and Perry by jumping a lifetime-best of 5.34m (17' 6"), and right behind her was Jah'Nisha Campbell who also had a lifetime-best with her jump of 5.29m (17 '4"). Juliet Lane continued the trend with a lifetime-best jump of 4.92m (16' 2"). Since the entire squad was achieving the best results of their careers, Sydni Caw and Kayla Whiteaker decided to do the same, jumping 4.72m ((15' 6") and 4.63m (15' 2") respectively.
When it was the men's turn to jump, Mario Cheatem didn't want the PR train to stop, so he jumped out to 6.89m (22'7"). The only time he's ever jumped farther was a wind-aided jump of 6.94m last year. DeAndray Rhodes was the next athlete with a personal record, jumping 6.28m (20' 7"), followed by Corey Brown with a jump of 6.13m (20' 1").
All of Friday's results in the long jump were wind-legal. Unfortunately the same can't be said of Saturday's triple jump results, many of which were still lifetime-best performances, but aren't officially counted as such because of the tail wind measuring over 4m per second. Unofficial PR's were recorded by Caleb Coleman, Hadyn Bieling, Juliet Lane, Anaya Vil, and Kayla Whiteaker.
In the high jump, Hadyn Bieling continued his strong season by again achieving the NAIA "B" qualifying standard with a jump of 2.03m to take 2nd place. Carlee Gassman had her second PR of the weekend by jumping 1.55m, which was also the height achieved by JayOnna Perry and Jah'Nisha Campbell.
In the throwing events, Karley Faudere highlighted the weekend with lifetime-bests in both the javelin (31.45m) and shot put (11.99m). Elliauna Rogers recorded lifetime-bests in both the discus (27.13m) and shot put (11.02m). Martha Rios got in on the PR action with her throws in the shot put (9.15m) and discus (21.16m), and Treianna Williams had a career best performance in the hammer throw of 33.73m.
The Braves are in action again this Thursday and Friday, April 12-13, at the KT Woodman Classic at Wichita State University.
