PITTSBURG, Kansas – West Texas A&M track and field break two school records and have 27 provisional marks at the Crimson & Gold Invitational on Saturday while collecting two first place finishes inside Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State on Saturday, Dec. 9.
Boo Rogers
Gerard Bryant finished in the top-five for the Buffs to complete day two of the Boo Rogers Classic with 5,273 points in fifth place with three personal bests in the 60-meter, shotput and 1000-meter. Teammates
Romet Vahter came in sixth with 5,230 points to start his first season in the maroon and white after transferring while
Allen Henderson finished 11
th with 4,762 points and personal best in shotput and 1000-meter. All three Buffs hit provisional marks.
Crimson & Gold
The distance runners shined in this week's meet with
William Amponsah remaining undefeated this year from the cross country season to his first indoor meet and breaking another school record. Amponsah completed the 5,000-meter race in first with the only time under 14 minutes (13:53.98) marking his personal best and breaking WT's record by 14 seconds. Teammates
Enrico Oddone finished second (14:01.69) and
Harry Louradour in third (14:04.14) knocking off a full four seconds to make this Louradours personal best.
Veteran runner
Florance Uwajeneza makes her debut this year in the the 5,000-meter race where she finished first (16:17.95) with freshman
Sarah Koomson in second (16:37.47).
Betty Bajika rounded out the top-five in fifth (16:59.87). All three runners hit provisionals.
Olivia McLain,
Lexi Maul and
Elise Leveel placed in the top-20 with Maul running her personal best (17:30.34).
The sprinters shined in the 60-meter with four Lady Buffs taking the top 6-9 spots with
Deborah Acheampong (7.56) leading the way in sixth.
DeOndra Green (7.57),
Amari Weatherford (7.57) and
Joy Udo-Gabriel (7.65) would round out with all four hitting provisionals. Acheampong, Weatherford and
Blessing Akintoye ran in the 200-meter with Acheampong placing third (24.37), Weatherford sixth (24.71) and Akintoye seventh (24.79) and all three hitting provisionals.
On the Buffs sprints,
Jerry Jakpa ran his way into the top-three in the 200-meter with a time of 21.52, making provisionals.
Troy Whyte had two personal bests coming in the 600-yard dash (1:16.47) and the 60m Hurdles in second (7.83) making the top-10 WT records in 6
th overall. Continuing in the 60m Hurdles, teammates
David Richards placed 9
th(8.07) while
Jefferson Jean came in 17
th (8.19) for all three to hit provisionals.
In the field events, the Buffs and Lady Buffs hit personal bests and a school record for
Luke Holcombe in the shotput.
Holcombe threw the shotput 17.85m becoming the top throw in WT history and breaking a record held since 2014 by Zach Weatherly (17.45m). Holcombe continued his success in the weight throw finishing ninth (16.94m).
Meadow Gallentine broke into the WT record books with her weight throw of 18.02m. Gallentine now stands in second all-time breaking into the previous record holder of all top-five spots from former Lady Buff All-American Zada Swoopes.
The jumps had five provisionals with
Seniru Amarasinghe starting his junior season with a height of 2.12m and making WT top-10 records. Lady Buffs
Kailee Benton and
Daniela Pesic placed fourth (5.72m) and fifth (5.71m) in the long jump while
Miriam Zanovello placed third (12.03m) and Hekla Sif Magnusfottir placed fifth (11.88m) in the triple jump.
Up Next
WT will return to the indoor season to compete in the Texas Tech red Raider Invite on Jan. 13 in Lubbock at the Sports Performance Center on the campus of Texas Tech.
