The women’s indoor track and field team secured their third consecutive indoor conference title and the men placed third overall at the MIAA Indoor Championships in Maryville, Missouri from Friday, Feb. 22 to Sunday, Feb. 24.
Head coach Russ Jewett said he is proud of the women’s team.
“I mean that is what you want to do. You want to win everything you compete in. We do not always win but it is good to have three in a row. So (it is) very exciting. Sometimes it kind of gets to be you hate to lose more than you are exciting about winning… but whatever the dynamic, they have come home with a victory.”
Jewett believes the men team competed and fought hard.
“It was disappointing. We had a chance to win going in. We knew that we were an underdog… We had some outstanding performances and I was really proud of our men’s team for the way that they competed. Both with intensity and with honor and that is not (really) easy to do in the environment that find ourselves sometimes in (in) competition. So, I was really proud of our men. They represented Pitt State with a high degree of honor under those circumstances.”
On the women’s team, senior Jordan Puvogel placed third in the mile run and earned All-MIAA honors, senior Jena Black placed fourth in the shot put, freshman Trace Mosby placed fourth in the long jump, sophomore McKenzie Penne placed fourth in the 60 meter hurdles, senior Katren Rienbolt came in fourth in the 3,000 meters, freshman Christine Williams won fifth place in the 200 meters, senior Sarah Jewett came in sixth in the 800 meters, sophomore Asia Anderson placed sixth in the long jump, and junior Cassidy Westhoff placed sixth in the mile.
On the men’s team, junior Louis Rollins earned an MIAA title in the 60 meter hurdles and placed third in the long jump, junior Savion Cauveren was the MIAA runner up in the 60 meter hurdles, senior Kai Miller was also the MIAA runner up in the pole vault, sophomore Connar Southard won third place in the mile run and earned All-MIAA Honors, sophomore Colin Webber placed third and earned All-MIAA Honors in the 800 meters, senior Ian Duncan finished fourth in the shot put, senior Darren Fowler placed sixth in the pole vault, and freshman Damien Close placed sixth in the 200 meters and seventh in the 60 meters.
Due to injuries, a few members of the men’s team had to be pulled out of the competition, but they still performed well according to Jewett.
“There were a lot that stood out. On the men’s side Louis Rollins who, in the span of about a week, was able to practice enough in the 60 hurdles to win. He had been injured for weeks and weeks and so he is really an amazing young man and he at one time at the long jump as well and he had a little trouble with his leg, so we had him sit the rest of the competition and he ended up getting passed. Louis was amazing this weekend as was NaRon. NaRon was not able to finish the meet because of (a) surgery he had on that hip… He just reinjured himself and we decided not to continue because it was bad enough so that was disappointing, but he was a great team captain throughout the competition and a warrior in giving it a go. (He) made it all the way to the final of the 200 meters and I just pulled him because he was swollen up in the hip there. Levi Wyrick was huge.”
There were several members of women’s team that stood out to Jewett during the three-day competition.
“On the women’s side, Trace Mosby stands out… winning the pentathlon… and then also placing high in the long jump and the 600 yard in addition to that so seven events (and) eight competitive rounds all together is just an amazing thing for a red shirt freshman to be able to do in this conference. Haven Lander (stood out) for yet another victory. I was proud of really all of our women. That was such a hard-fought battle. We did not have everything go (really) well for us but when stuff did not go well, someone else picked up the slack and like we told the women everybody on that team can feel like they are apart of it (because of the) one point difference there was between us and Lincoln University whether they scored one or two points or none or twenty. It was that kind of competition.”
The next competition is the NCAA Division II National Indoor Championships at the Robert W. Plaster Center from Friday, Mar. 8 to Saturday, Mar. 9.