Naperville, Ill.–The Statesmen track and field teams entered Thursday and Friday with a lengthy list of national qualifiers, but unfortunately could not add to it as William Penn competed at the Dr. Keeler Invitational hosted by North Central.

Tarah Alexander (Sr., Cedar, Iowa, Physical Education) and Vashti Nwagbaraocha (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis., Exercise Science) came the closest to joining the qualifying crew.  Alexander finished 20th in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:17.27 (qualifying mark was 2:16.00), while Nwagbaraocha placed seventh in the high jump at 5-3 (qualifying mark was 5-5).

Chris Gossett (Sr., Park Forest, Ill., Mechanical Engineering) gave it a run as well in the triple jump, ending up seventh at 44-7.5 (qualifying mark was 46-9).  Payton Busch (Jr., Centerville, Iowa, Secondary Education) was a few seconds back of the men’s 800 qualifying time of 1:53.50 as he finished 43rd in a time of 1:58.63.

Qualifiers Derek Seddon (Jr., Knoxville, Iowa, Physical Education), Kalob Gist (Sr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management), andMeaghan Foster (Sr., Centerville, Iowa, Physical Education) used the meet as one final tune-up before nationals.  Seddon was second in the discus (170-11) and seventh in the shot put (49-11), while Gist was 10th in the shot put (47-5.75) and Foster was ninth in the women’s shot put (40-5).

Next Up: William Penn will send a wide assortment of individuals to the NAIA National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala. on May 26-28.

Story provided by Wade Steinlage