GREENVILLE, IL – The Principia Track & Field team competed in the 2024 SLIAC Outdoor Championships on Friday and Saturday at Greenville University. The men's team finished with 82 points to claim third place, while the women finished in eighth place with 26 points. It took a collective effort at the conference meet to finish the season strong as a team. In the team standings, the men had ten point scorers, while seven women contributed to the team points before the end of the day.
Principia's two conference champions were Rex Heath with his second consecutive title in the 3K steeplechase (9:45.20) and Sarah Erickson (21:26.17) winning the women's 5K for her first collegiate victory. Each earned a big ten points for the Principia men and women.
The Panthers had three second place finishes on the day. Corey Carter was the runner-up in the men's 400m with a time of 48.94. Jimmy Woodrow finished second in the men's 1500m for the second year in a row with an incredible kick, passing three Greenville runners in the final 250 meters of the race to finish at 4:10.62. In the final race of the day, the Panthers men's 4x400m relay team of Nana Koranteng, Howard James, Dillon Hussey, and Pius Sempumbu finished second to Greenville by outkicking four other teams who all finished within two seconds of each other.
To round out Principia's medal winners, Zach Proctor ran a strong 5K to finish in third place for the men with a time of 16:44.27. Howard James also medaled in the men's long jump with a third place finish thanks to a jump of 6.73 m (22'1").
Before anchoring the the men's 4x400m relay, Nana Koranteng just missed an individual podium as he finished fourth in both the 400m and 800m. Dillon Hussey ran a PR in the men's 400m hurdles to take fourth place as well. Pius Sempumbu finished in fifth place in the men's long jump, while Jacob Warrick competed in five events for the men and earned points in four of them: fifth in the javelin, sixth in the 110m hurdles, sixth in the 4x100m relay, and seventh in the shot put.
On the women' side, Myka Fenton earned six points for the women with two personal best performances, finishing fifth in the 1500m (5:30.98) and seventh in the 800m (2:38.44). Laura Mayo finished sixth in the women's 1500m, while Amarachi Ejimadu finished seventh place in the 400m with a personal best time of 1:03.26. The women's 4x400m relay finished in fifth place with a 14 second improvement on their time from the prior weekend at Indiana State.
Seniors Corey Carter and Kannon Gill were honored on this year's SLIAC All-Sportsmanship Team at the end of the meet.
Up Next: This concludes the season for most of the athletes on the Track & Field team. A few athletes will compete at North Central College on May 9-10 in the Carius-Gregory Invitational, a last chance to earn qualification to the DIII NCAA National Championships in Myrtle Beach, SC on May 23-25.
