Mavericks take first place at Minnesota State Invitational

Bobbi Patrick
Staff Writer

The Minnesota State Mavericks track and field team showed that the winter break didn’t slow down their training efforts in the Maverick Invite held at Myers Field House, as both the men’s and women’s track & field teams finished first in the team’s first home meet of the season Jan. 11.

Many athletes took top finishes in both the field and track events for both squads. For the women, sophomore throwers Katie Taylor and Morgan Florek took first and third in the shot put throwing competition, respectively. Taylor finished with a top throw of 16.10 meters and Florek with a throw of 15.61 meters.

In the men’s shot put, junior Connor McCormick and senior Jayme LaPlante finished first and second in the shot put, respectively. McCormick finished with a top throw of 17.30 meters and LaPlante threw a 16.12 meter throw.

In the jumps, junior Elizabeth Brunner took the win for the women in triple jump with a 11.66 meter jump, while on the men’s side, sophomore Deveyon Brown took first in the high jump with a 1.99 meter jump, while in long jump, senior Ryan Kruse won second place with a jump of 6.51 meters.
In the triple jump, senior Victor Ogeka, junior Elijah Calderon-Pitchford, and sophomore Cameron Ramnarine placed first, second, and third to sweep the event.

For the track events, many women and men had great performances and times go hand in hand. In the mile, senior Megan Serratore, freshman Amanda Montplaisir, and junior Josie Braaten took first, second, and third, respectively.  In the 600-meter run, senior Bobbi Patrick won the event and sophomore Autumn Anderson took second.
On the men’s side, seniors Austin Pasch and Caleb Burke placed first and second in the mile. Pasch is now ranked as the top miler in D-II nationally with his time of 4:12.55.

In the 600, freshman Drew Lewison placed third with a time of 1:25.67. In the next few events on the women’s side, freshman Haley Leger took second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:25.  In the 400 meter dash, junior Crystal Malone won the event with a time of 59.72.  In the 200-meter dash, the Mavericks dominated.

Sophomores Khenadi Jones and Mackenzie Woodard grabbed first and second place with times of 26.00 and 26.08.
On the men’s side, sophomore Jacob Wahlers won the 800-meter run with a respectable time of 1:57.30. While no one on the men’s side ran the 400, the Mavericks showed up in the 200 meter. The Mavericks took places 1 through 5 and then also took seventh through ninth place.

The top Mavericks in the 200 included Reid Diamond with a time of 22.121, junior Paul Selman 22.125, and sophomore Josh Phelps with a time of 22.34.
The final event of the night was the 4×400 meter relay, which the lady Mavericks won the event with their ‘A’ team which consisted of Mackenzie Woodard, Crystal Malone, Rose Gaye, and Gabi Gaines. The team ran a time of 4:05.42.

The men won the event with their ‘A’ team as well with a time of 3:22.48, consisting of Mavericks Jaquez Wilson, Reid Diamond, Paul Selman, and Josh Phelps.

The Mavericks take to the road next Friday to compete in the South Dakota State University Division II invite in hopes to show their talent off on a bigger stage.