The Cougars men’s and women’s track and field teams participated in the competition and set a record with outstanding results. The event was held from April 13–15 with a strong start for the Cougar athletes on Thursday.
In the startup event of the Bryan Clay Invitational track meet, freshman Esther Conde-Turpin started out with first place in the 100m hurdles, reaching a record of 13.40, an NCAA Division Two record. Her rank is number one in the nation.
Nicole Warwick, a junior alongside Conde-Turpin earned an NCAA Division Two Provisional standard time in the 100m hurdles as they competed in the heptathlon. Warwick reached a record of 13.96 in the 100m hurdle competition which makes her record 11th in the nation. Alysa Henry ran it in 14.49 seconds. Warwick won third place in the 200m, setting her record of running for 24.75 seconds and Henry ran a time of 25.76.
On the men’s side, Aaron Worrell was competing in the high jump in which he got third place. His highest jump was 1.95 m. Meanwhile, Lincoln Krog competed in the shot put and his mark was 13.51 m. On the first day of the competition, Krog was in fourth place in the decathlon and Worrell was in seventh place within the same category. This is how the first day of the event ended with outstanding performances from our Cougar athletes
On day two, Conde-Turpin had an amazing performance which earned her 6007 points in the heptathlon, a school record for APU. Her record in the NCAA Division Two is second place all-time. Conde-Turpin started the day with a long jump of 6.21m. She also performed well in the javelin throw of about 44.07 m. To wrap up her day, Conde-Turpin ran the 800m and finished with 2:15.74. With this in mind, Conde-Turpin was third in nationals for the long jump, and she finished 12th in the javelin throw.
Warwick also did very well in terms of points. The number of points that she received for the second day was 5460, which placed her behind Conde-Turpin. Warwick’s record in the long jump was 6.23 m and Henry’s javelin throw was 42.98 m. Warwick was third in the nation with the long jump record, and Henry was 18th in the javelin throw category.
In the men’s track meet, Krog earned 7311 points. This sets him to have the best record within the season of the decathlon category. Worrell made a personal decathlon record of 7100 points. Felix Perrier ran a 14:11.90, which put him in 15th place in the nation within the 5K competition.
Meanwhile, Salvador Capetillo was in 43rd place in the nation within the 5K, and on Friday, his race set a record of 14:15.86. This result jumped Capetillo to 15th in the nation. The second day of this event was seen as a victory for the Cougars.
On the final day of Saturday’s event, the Cougars’ track team ended the event with some impressive results. Eliana Saunders performed spectacularly in the high jump, which set her record to be first in the nation for the season. She reached a high jump score of 1.75m. This led her to win the event.
“I surprised myself with how well I did. I came to this school not knowing what I was capable of and jumping 1.75 today was proof that through God and with good coaching, I can do more than I thought was possible,” Saunders said.
Luisa Fisher was second in the javelin throw in the nation after setting an APU record score of 43.37m. Molly Olson reached fourth in the javelin throw. Fisher and Olson were among APU’s women’s best javelin throwers in the tournament.
“It was an amazing event that I really enjoyed,” Olson said after receiving her fourth spot in the competition.
In the men’s event, Ben Sumner set a personal record in the 1500, which led to his rank to be sixth in the nation. He ran 3:45.62 in the 5k. Leroy Kwateh performed outstandingly in the 400m hurdles. He ran for 53.21 seconds, which made him achieve his provisional status. Jermel Jones ranked second in the event after reaching a leap of 7.85m within the long jump category. This mark sets a new career for Jones’ performance in the track and field competition.
The Bryan Clay Invitation set a precedent achievement for our Cougars’ track and field team. The men and women did their best to reach records that will be in APU’s history. Our APU athletes have the potential to reach greater expectations in their sports careers in the future.