Topeka, KAN. - The Braves men's and women's track and field teams participated at the Washburn Open on Friday and Saturday, and the results indicate that both squads are rounding into shape with two weeks remaining before the KCAC indoor championships.
The Braves were led by JayOnna Perry's school-record setting effort in the pentathlon, which consists of five events—each event contributing a portion of the athlete's overall score. Perry picked a great day to have 3 season-bests and 2 indoor career-best performances in the five-event contest.
All five events were contested on Saturday, starting with the 60m hurdles at 10:15am, where Perry ran a season-best time 9.13 seconds, earning her 883 points. Next came the high jump, where Perry once again had a season-best mark, clearing 1.58m (5 feet, 2 inches), adding another 712 points to her total. The third event was the shot put, where she put up a career-best mark of 8.32m (27 feet, 3.5 inches), and another 420 points. The competition then moved to the long jump pit, where her leap of 5.1 meters (16 feet, 8.75 inches)—her second indoor career-best mark of the day—contributed another 587 points to her total. The gun went off to start the final event of the five-and-half hour competition, the 800m run, at 3:40pm. Perry once again ran a season-best time of 2 minutes and 28.69 seconds and added another 709 points to her overall score. Her final tally of 3,311 points not only broke her own school record set last year, but moved her up to #10 in this season's national ranking. Perry's herculean day wasn't over though….
However, throughout the meet other members of the Braves track and field squad were putting together season or career-best performances, with the most success coming from the team's jumps group:
- Jah-Nisha Campbell ran a PR in of 8.24s in the 60m dash.
- Anaya Vil had an indoor PR in the triple jump with a mark of 10.23m.
- Tabari Mason's jump of 13.16m was a season-best mark in the triple jump.
- Isaiah Schell placed 18th in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:14.46.
- Hadyn Bieling had an indoor career-best in the triple jump with a mark of 13.21m.
- Daniel Blount led the men's triple jumpers with an indoor career-best jump of 13.76m.
- Jahkoby Franklin had in indoor career-best in the long jump with a mark of 6.19m.
- The men's DMR (Distance Medley Relay—consisting of a 1200m leg, followed by a 400m runner, an 800m runner, and the last person running a mile) finished in 11 minutes and 55.43 seconds—the fastest time by an OU DMR team since 2021. The relay team was made up of Alijah Centeio, Xavier Garza, Matthias Bessey, and Brendon Fuller.
In the final event of the long weekend, the men's and women's 4x400m relay teams competed for the first time this season. The men's team of Alijah Centeio, Matthias Bessey, Xavier Garza, and Isaiah Schell had a chance to challenge the school record until an athlete from another team inadvertently stepped in front of the OU squad just as they were attempting to handoff, causing athletes to collide and the baton to fall to the track. OU recovered and finished the race, even catching up to another team before the finish, but the pileup prevented a shot at the record and led to a final time of 3 minutes and 35.32 seconds. The women's 4x400m relay team of Jah-Nisha Campbell, Arianna Mastin, Anaya Vil, and after her monster day in the pentathlon—JayOnna Perry, ran a respectable 4 minutes and 10.02 seconds to finish 20th overall.
The Braves track and field teams will be in action again next Friday and Saturday at the Bearcat Invite at Northwest Missouri State.
