MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Ninth Annual Dan Veach Invitational is in the books, as Mulerider Track & Field hosted its annual meet on a beautiful Friday afternoon with multiple top performances. Both the men's and women's teams dominated the home meet, as the Mulerider Men ripped off 39 top-ten finishes, 30 top-five spots, and six first-place finishers. The Mulerider Women displayed a similar dominance, with the group tallying 37 top-ten placements, 26 top-five finishes, and six first-place marks.
Relays
For relays, starting off with the men's 4x100m, Southern Arkansas won the event, as SAU's team A (
Kaiden McHenry-Jones,
Keith Smith,
Christian Johnson,
Anthony Hicks) finished with a time of 41.80. In the men's 4x400m, SAU's team B (
Hunter Pye,
Hez Morris,
Charles Patton,
Jack Landrum) placed third in the race with a time of 3:31.99. For the women in the 4x100m, the Muleriders' team B (
LaKenya Williams,
Diamond Brunn,
Breyonna Steward,
Jordan Smith) finished first with a time of 48.78. In the women's 4x400m, SAU's team A (
Kendal Fellegy, Jayla Davis,
Kamryn Floyd,
Jordan Collins) won in a landslide, with the group recording a time of 4:00.82.
Mulerider Men
While multiple Mulerider Men recorded first-place finishes, two in particular to really show out were the Gamble brothers. Jericho and Jonovan had themselves a day, as the brothers combined for half of the team's first-place marks.
Jericho Gamble went on to account for two first-place spots, as the freshman won the shot put and discus, marking a distance of 15.98m (52' 5.25" | PR) in shot put, and a spot of 49.01m (160' 9") in the discus throw.
Jonovan Gamble went on to record a first-place spotting of his own in the hammer throw, as the sophomore slung the hammer 50.84m (166' 9" | PR) and won by nine inches. Pushing his school record to new heights, or lengths, was
Keith Smith. The senior recorded a program best again with his leap of 15.77m (51' 9") in the triple jump, and is second nationally.
Other Mulerider Men to record top finishes:
Kaleb Ellis – Long Jump – 6.90m (22' 7.75 | 4.5 tailwind)
Joseph Boyd – Pole Vault – 4.61m (15' 1.5" | PR)
Mulerider Women
Completely dominating the women's sprints on the day was senior
Jordan Collins. The Huntsville, Texas, native had about as good a senior day as you could have, as she finished in first for the 100m and 200m. In the 100m, Collins sprinted through the finish line and blew the program record out of the water, finishing with a time of 11.61 seconds. The time also qualifies as an NCAA DII provision mark. In the 200m, Collins put on another show with her time of 24.22, separating her from the rest of the pack. Delivering dominant performances in the field was freshman
Skyler Phillips, as she won both the discus and hammer throws. In discus, Phillips won the event with a toss of 40.73m (133' 7"). For hammer, the freshman slung the weight 43.54m (142' 10" | PR) to win the event.
Other Mulerider Women to record top finishes:
Jeana Paredes – Pole Vault – 3.35m (11' 0")
Diamond Brunn – Long Jump – 6.06m (19' 10.75")
Up Next:
The only thing left on the pre-determined schedule for Mulerider Track & Field is championship weekend, as Southern Arkansas prepares over the next week and a half for the Great American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. The meet is set for April 29 – May 1.
