By: Emilie Jenson
Public Information Coordinator
The Iowa Central Track and Field teams competed in the University of South Dakota Early Bird Relays Friday and Saturday, April 5-6.
Tina Samson was the champion in the women's heptathlon, qualifying for nationals while also recording the #4 Triton all-time best score in the event. Samson also set the #6 all-time best in the women's high jump where she competed as part of the heptathlon, recording 1.63 meters.
In the women's javelin, Rowland Kirton-Browne finished sixth with a national qualifying throw of 36.73 meters, also recording the #4 Triton all-time best.
Also finishing in sixth place for the Triton women were Dayvione Briggs in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.32 seconds, and Abigail Frey in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.57.
Cooper Spurgeon was the lone national qualifier for the Triton men, throwing 51.97 meters in the javelin leg of the men's decathlon, also recording the #3 Triton all-time best.
Bongumusa Nkosi was champion in the men's 400-meter dash with a time of 48.47 seconds.
Youssef Hamed finished fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.49 seconds and fifth in the 200-meter dash in 22.24 seconds. Trevon Prince also finished in the top-10 in the 400-meter dash, taking ninth place with a time of 50.93 seconds.
Jadon Boots finished fifth in the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.34 and took eighth place in the 1500-meter run in 4:00.03. Seon Booker finished ninth in the men's 800, recording a time of 2:02.88.
Waukeem Walters finished 10th in the long jump with a jump of 6.86 meters.
"To say it was a windy weekend would be an understatement," said Triton Head Coach Anne Cleary. "The weather on Friday was decent and we had a handful of great performances and saw lots of improvements from the team. Saturday was a real gut check with winds gusting over 40 mph at times. The wind made some of the field events very tough and most of the track events even tougher. Even if some of the times were not what we had hoped for, we saw some real fight in many of our athletes. Efforts like that get us excited for the day when ideal conditions come our way."
The Tritons will travel to Warrensburg, Missouri on Friday for the UCM Mule Relays.