Home / Sports / Gorilla women place first, men second in track and field meet
Odalis Mejia, senior from Owasso High School, competes in the pole vault event. The Prentice Gudgen High School Invitation was held at Robert W. Plaster Center on Saturday, Jan. 19. Hannah Meier

Gorilla women place first, men second in track and field meet

The women’s team earned first place with a total of 160 points while the men placed second with 135 points in the Rumble in the Jungle meet on Friday, Jan. 18. Pitt State also hosted the Prentice Gudgen High School Invitational meet on Saturday, Jan. 19. 

“… We do host that competition…” Said Russ Jewett, cheer coach. “So, it is an opportunity for us to showcase our facility and to bring students onto Pittsburg State’s campus… It was a success despite the weather forecast during the week.”  

There were six individual victories on the women’s team Friday including sophomore Haven Lander in the pole vault, senior Jena Black in the shot put, junior Brianna Cooks in the weight throw, freshman Christine Williams in the 60 meters and the 200 meters, and senior Jordan Puvogel in the 3,000 meters.  

“Haven Lander did a great job in the pole vault after almost five weeks…” Jewett said. “Of not competing… I was really proud of her. (Jena Black) is the team captain, a great leader… She is a great competitor and did a great job… (Brianna Cooks) has been very consistent in the weight throw… (Christina Williams) is a freshman and doing a wonderful job… she’s very coachable and just a really great competitor.”  

There were five individual event wins on the men’s team during the meet on Friday including senior Ian Duncan in the high jump, junior Dervon Lee in the shot put, junior Levi Wyrick in the weight throw, senior Kai Miller in the pole vault, and junior Savion Cauveren in the 60-meter hurdles. 

“Ian Duncan won the high jump… I was very pleased with that… (Levi Wyrick)… competed pretty well… he has proven himself to be an outstanding team leader.” Jewett said. “He was elected team captain just this week so he’s the guy you want on your team.”  

According to Jewett, several competitors have been injured. Jewett hopes the players to be recovered for the next meet on Thursday, Jan. 31 in Warrensburg, MO.  

“We have some student athletes that have been dinged up…” Jewett said. “We are trying to build some steam on both teams, and we are in a tough stop right now with some injuries… so we need to put a few more folks on the track and in the field events and just get things going. We have plenty of time until anything that really counts but it’s time for us to build some momentum, so we are looking for more competitors to be able to compete obviously and then… a little more energy… The meet this last weekend was a team scored event (and) was a small meet… This meet this weekend is going to be a pretty big meet, there will probably be a thousand competitors there or so and probably 50 or 60 school represented so there will be a lot more energy, a lot higher level competition so we look for our kids to rack it up in intensity and to be able to respond to higher levels in competition.”   

Check Also

Gorillas return home against Riverhawks  

Curtis Meyer reporter  With a win at Nebraska Kearney last week, the Gorillas look to …

Leave a Reply

%d