TRACK & FIELD

The Huntington track and field program competed in the 117th annual Little State Championships at Indiana Wesleyan over the weekend, bringing home four top finishes while hitting two new B standards and breaking two school records.

Destiny Copeland had herself a day in long jump. Her leap of 6.04 meters was tops at the meet, broke the school record and is the third jump best in the NAIA. She also finished third in the 400 meter hurdles in 1:04.91, which is good for the No. 4 spot in the Huntington history books.

Erica Xayarath also brought home a first place finish in high jump by going 1.68 meters. She finished third in long jump with her hop of 5.71 meters which is a provisional mark and places her second only to Copeland in the HU record books.

Aanyah Wright punched her ticket to NAIA Nationals in the hammer with her third-place finish of 49.98 meters which proves a B standard and shatters her previous PR and school record by more than three meters. She also claimed ninth in javelin with her heave of 26.99 meters. She rounded out her weekend by competing in discus where she left her mark in program history with her toss of 39.12 meters for the sixth spot.

Emily Tedder had a solid outing by taking fifth in the 1500 meters. Her time of 4:48.35 is the tenth fastest time in program history. She also placed sixth in the 800 meters in 2:22.87 while teammate Mackenzie Brewer came in eighth in 2:23.88.

Abbey Gentz was impressive in the 5000 meters, posting a fifth place finish at the meet with her time of 17:57.12 proving the fourth best in the HU all-time record books.

On the men’s side, Dylan Felger was up to his typical ways. He won the 400 meter hurdles in 52.06 to not only hit the A standard but his time proves the second best among his NAIA peers.

Zach Collins sprinted his way to a first place finish in the 200 meters in 21.57. Kent Yoder set a new PR in the 5000 meters by clocking in at 14:33.20 to take third at the meet and third in the HU record books. Chandler Minnich posted the fourth best mark in program history with his leap of 4.55 meters in pole vault which earned him fifth place at the meet.

Other top ten performances included Austin Liepe in the 1500 meters (7th, 4:01.96) and the 4×400 relay team of Blake Miller, Nick Wilford, Josh Whitney, Andrew Eubank (5th, 3:40.74).

Next up for the Foresters are the Drake Relays in Des Moines (Iowa) on April 26-29.

COACH AUSTIN ROARK’S COMMENTS:
“Both of our teams competed well at the Little State Championships. The distance group had a great weekend as many of them had PR’s. It was great to see Dylan Felger open his outdoor season, running 52.06 on a chilly night at IWU. The women were great both days. It was nice seeing Destiny Copeland over 6 meters again in the long jump, and a huge congrats to Aanyah Wright for hitting NAIA standard.”