PHILADELPHIA, Pa. / HICKORY, N.C. – The App State men's and women's track & field team split between the Penn Relays and the LR Open on Saturday. The Mountaineers crowned a Penn Relays champion and saw three school records fall in Philadelphia, in addition to tallying 16 first-place finishes between the two meets.
Penn Relays
"It was an absolutely great weekend here in Philadelphia," said director of track & field/cross country
Damion McLean. "This was definitely a business trip where we took care of business and broke a lot of school records. We came out with a champion in the pole vault championship division and a few made the finals. I'm looking forward to being here again next year."
With a clearance of 5.26m (17' 3"), senior
Patrick Freeman took the Penn Relays title in the championship section of the men's pole vault. Freeman shares the App State program record with sophomore
Matthew Gray, after both cleared a bar of 3.35m (17' 6.5") in front of a home crowd at the App State Open (April 18-19).
The women's 4x800-meter relay quartet of junior
Addison Ollendick-Smith, senior
Regan Hodge, sophomore
Rhys Ammon, and freshman
Savannah Moore surpassed the program record with a time of 8:59.68 and placed eighth overall. The previous App State record of 9:06.90 was set in 2019 by Izzy Evely, Kylee Frady, Phylissa Greeley, and Elisa Sargent.
In the men's 100-meter final, junior
Ray Lee placed fifth with a time of 10.66. Lee had qualified for the final with a time of 10.47 after placing third in Friday's prelims. Sophomore
Kendall Johnson stopped the clock at 11.75 to place sixth in the women's 100-meter final. She had advanced to the final after placing fourth with a time of 11.65 in Friday's prelims.
Freshman
Lilly Nichols recorded a personal best of 3.96m (12' 11.75") to place ninth in the championship section of the women's pole vault. Nichols remains third in the App State all-time list. The men's 4x800-meter relay squad of freshman
Rowan Gwin, junior
Ethan Lipham, redshirt junior
Steven Smith, and senior
Rylan Haskett rounded out competition at the Penn Relays, stopping the clock at 7:40.60 to place 13th overall.
LR Open
"At the LR Open, we had some athletes step up after a good home meet last week and showcase their talent more in preparation for the Sun Belt Championships," McLean said.
Freshman
Kendred Walker notched a pair of first-place finishes after recording a leap of 6.88m (22' 6.75") in the men's long jump and a personal best leap of 13.86m (45' 5.75") in the men's triple jump. Fellow freshman
Ella Battel placed first in the women's 1,500 meters with a personal best of 4:58.57 and placed first in the women's 800 meters with a time of 2:22.32.
In the women's shot put, freshmen
Brittany Ellis and
Emily Edwards placed first (12.23m (40' 1.5")) and second (11.39m (37' 4.5")), respectively. Edwards also placed first in the women's hammer throw with a personal best of 44.96m (147' 6"). Freshmen
Christopher Stewart and
Dennis Mowatt Jr. also finished first (16.64m (54' 7"), PR) and second (14.64m (48' 0.5")), respectively, in the men's shot put. On the track, junior
Maddie Quinn and senior
Morgan Kornke placed first (11:59.98, PR) and second (13:04.39), respectively, in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Mountaineers also took the top-three spots in the men's 200 meters, led by
Brandon Parker. Parker clocked a personal best of 21.17 and was followed by sophomore Armonté Ferguson and junior
Parker Kinney, who took second (21.23) and third (21.61), respectively.
Junior
Jeremiah Burch Jr. clinched first in the men's discus with a toss of 44.00m (144' 4"). The Mountaineers also took first in the men's and women's 400 meters as Kinney stopped the clock at 47.93 in the men's race and freshman
Ja'Naya Linder stopped the clock at 56.81 in the women's race. Additionally, App State also saw first-place finishes from freshman
Zach Makemson in the men's 800 meters (1:56.22) and senior
Corlasia Scott in the women's 400-meter hurdles (1:07.31).
The Mountaineers also saw second-place finishes from sophomore
Dianna Boykin (women's discus, 38.7m (127' 0")), junior
Jake Stanley (men's hammer throw, 46.35m (152' 1")), freshman
Memphis Rich (men's 1,500 meters, 3:59.99, PR), Ferguson (men's 100 meters, 10.96), and junior
Christian Gore (men's 400-meter hurdles, 57.39).
Penn Relays Rewind
With a time of 8:41.01, redshirt senior
Calbert Guest reset the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase record and placed sixth overall in Thursday's competition. He surpassed the previous record of 8:51.28, which was set in 2022 by Ryan Brown. Guest also became the first App State men's distance athlete to qualify for the USATF Elite Championships with his time. The women's distance medley relay (DMR) quartet of Moore, sophomore
Nicole Wells, Ollendick-Smith, and Ammon shattered the school record with a time of 11:46.94. The previous record, set in 2017 by Greeley, Molly Pusateri, Torre Moser, and Sargent, was 11:59.12. App State placed 14th in Friday's race.
The Mountaineers also were one second shy of the men's distance medley relay and women's sprint medley relay program records. The men's DMR team of graduate student
Ethan Turner, sophomore
Miller Brannen, Gwin and freshman
Henry Stark stopped the clock at 9:56.44 to place ninth overall. The program record is 9:55.69, which was set at the 2012 Penn Relays. Sophomore
Kendall Johnson, senior
Mariah McCord, sophomore
Nicole Wells, and junior
Addison Ollendick-Smith clocked a time of 3:58.12 to place ninth in the women's sprint medley relay. The quartet was one second off the program record of 3:57.28, which was set in 2017.
In the collegiate sections of the women's and men's pole vault, junior
Ava Studney placed fourth with a clearance of 3.96m (12' 11.75") in the women's competition and senior
Matthew Bigelow placed ninth with a clearance of 4.85m (15' 11") in the men's competition. In the men's long jump, sophomore
Jared Hiatt placed fifth in the men's long jump with a leap of 6.92m (22' 8.5"). Lipham rounded out the top-10 in the men's 1,500 meters with a personal best of 3:46.82.
Sophomore
Caleb Lopez placed 12th in the men's triple jump (13.99m (45' 10.75")) and freshman
Jahaila Wright placed 16th in the women's triple jump (11.62m (38' 1.5")). Senior
Emma Russum rounded out the top-25 in the women's 5,000 meters (16:30.30, PR) and freshman
Thomas Wlazlowski rounded out the top-35 in the men's 5,000 meters (14:14.83, PR).
Up Next
The Mountaineers will head to Harrisonburg, Va. for the Sun Belt Championships on May 8-10.
