ELSAH, IL – The Principia Track & Field teams competed at the SLIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships this Saturday in our very own Crafton Athletic Center. Two new teams, Mississippi University for Women and Lyon College, joined the conference this year as ten teams now competed for medals at the championship meet.
The Panthers got off to a great start in the running events with the men winning the Distance Medley Relay and the women taking second place and in the event.
Zach Proctor ran a very strong anchor leg for the men to fight off Greenville and win the DMR title.
Jimmy Woodrow ran well in the 1200m leg, followed by
Nana Koranteng in the 400m leg, then
Rex Heath in the 800m leg, handing off to Proctor for the 1600m leg with a four second lead. Proctor had his work cut out for him with Greenville trying to hunt him down, and he surged in the final 400 meters of the race to fend off the opposing Panthers and win Principia's only conference title of the meet.
Later on, Heath took home the Panthers' second medal of the day as he finished third in the mile at 4:47.21, just one second ahead of Proctor in fourth. The Principia men's final medal went to
Nana Koranteng after he ran a strong 400m to finish in third with a time of 51.28. That time puts Koranteng #2 all-time in Principia's indoor track history for the 400m. In the men's field events,
Damilola Odunuga finished fifth in the high jump and
Pius Sempumbu finished fifth in the long jump.
Howard James, last year's outdoor champion in the long jump, was a late scratch with a nagging injury as he turns his focus towards the outdoor season.
On the women's side, the two freshmen runners had a strong day.
Myka Fenton anchored the second-place women's DMR and then backed that up with a fifth place finish in the mile with a time of 6:03.
Amarachi Ejimadu ran personal best performances in the 60m (8.24) and 200m (27.46), finishing ninth and eighth, respectively. Ejimadu earned the third-fastest time in Principia indoor track history in both events. The three sophomore women also had great days:
Sarah Erickson earned personal bests in the mile and the 3000m after running the 1200 leg in the DMR,
Sarah Fakorede ran personal bests in the 60m and the 200m in addition to anchoring the 4x400m relay, and
Joy Onyechi earned personal records in the long jump and the 60m.
The final race of the day was the 4x400m relay as the men and women each finished in fourth place with season best performances. In the overall team standings, the men finished in sixth place with 36 points, while the women finished with 14 points for eighth place. While these weren't the results Principia hoped for, this year's edition of the conference meet was much more competitive than previous seasons, and the Panthers showed their progress with the large number of personal best performances from both teams.
Up Next: This meet caps off a good season of progress for the Panthers. The teams will now begin to transition to the outdoor track and field season with the first meet coming on March 29th and 30th at WashU.
