Written by Caleb Childress:
The Roanoke men’s and women’s track and field team began their five-month long competitive season last Friday, December 1st, at the Bast-Cregger Center. The Bast-Cregger Invitational featured many of the Maroons’ ODAC rivals and several other Division III colleges in the region. The team fared well in their opening meet.
The meet started off with the women’s field events. Junior Elizabeth Knudsen came in seventh place for the weight throw competition. In the triple jump, Freshman Bailey Parks came in fifth place and she also came in eighth place for the long jump. In the running events, the 4 x 200-meter relay team with Tatiana Cherry-Santos, Emily Ball, Claire Aurand, and Alison Moreau finished in third place with a time of 1:50; which subsequently set a new school record.
In the 60-meter dash, Freshman Quinn Harlan finished in first place with a time of 7.81 seconds. Just behind Harlan, Sophomore Claire Aurand finished in fifth with a time of 8.02 seconds. Finally, the women’s events finished up with the 4 x 400-meter team coming in sixth place with a time of 4:38.
The men’s team also showed impressive results across the board.Senior Mykal Dawkins won the 500-meter with a time of 1:09. In the pole vault, Freshman Corbin Turner placed third and Sophomore Dillon Kopec placed fourth. The 4 x 400-meter team made up by Micah Ray, Mykal Dawkins, Aaron Rogers and Julian Edwards placed third with a time of 3:31. For the throwing team, Sophomore Kaleb Bland placed seventh in the shot put and Senior Lucas Jones placed 12th.
Next month, the Maroons are traveling to the Virginia Military Institute on January 19th to compete in their season’s next meet: the Keydet Invitational.
