The William Penn University men's and women's indoor track and field teams opened their post-holiday schedule with impressive results at the Central Dutch Athletic Classic in Pella, Iowa. Combining for eight individual victories, the Statesmen showcased depth across sprints, distance events, and field competitions. Highlights included national qualifying marks and strong team performances after a month-long break.
The William Penn women's team secured two titles on Friday at the Central Dutch Athletic Classic, hosted in Pella. Freshman Adedoyin Aderibigbe (Cedar Hill, Texas) won the 200-meter dash in 26.81 seconds, while freshman Crystal Shaw (Austin, Texas) topped the long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 9 inches. Senior Phoebe Burt (Iowa City, Iowa) earned runner-up finishes in both the shot put (38-7.75) and weight throw (45-3.75). Other notable results included second place for freshman Emmalee Wells-Stout (Oskaloosa, Iowa) in the 400-meter dash (1:06.62) and third for freshman Arabella Nepa (Clayton, Ga.) in the high jump (4-9.75). Fourth-place efforts came from freshman Akeelah Anderson (Dubuque, Iowa) in the 60-meter hurdles (10.37 seconds in finals), freshman Claire Rye (Plymouth, Iowa) in the mile (5:52.05), and sophomore Isabella Fulks (Cypress, Texas) in the weight throw (40-0.75). In the 60-meter dash, junior Lilly Ostert (Madrid, Iowa) placed seventh (8.12 seconds) and Shaw tenth (8.24 seconds).
The men's squad claimed six crowns, led by senior Xzavion West (Guthrie, Ky.), who won the shot put (53-1.5) and weight throw (61-2.25), surpassing the NAIA 'A' standard in the latter and ranking third nationally. Junior Youssef Hamed (Al Wakrah, Qatar) took the 200-meter dash (22.46 seconds), senior Sean Knockel (New Sharon, Iowa) the 400-meter dash (52.65 seconds), junior Gavin Huff (Mascoutah, Ill.) the mile (4:33.92), and junior Andrew Miller (Le Claire, Iowa) the 3,000-meter run (9:17.17). Silvers went to freshman Damarius Parker (Des Moines, Iowa) in the 400 (52.94), junior Wyatt Wallingford (Weston, Mo.) in the pole vault (10-4.75), and freshman Myrhon Addison (Glennville, Ga.) in the shot put (47-7.75). Bronze medals were awarded to sophomore Travaughn Robbins-Hall (Lauderhill, Fla.) in the 60-meter dash (7.01 seconds), senior Christopher Smith (Chicago, Ill.) in the 200 (24.00), and freshman Nicholas Knowles II (Nassau, Bahamas) in the long jump (20-4.5).
Head Coach Victoria Vinokur praised the efforts, saying for the women, 'Today was about just knocking the rust off and seeing where we were after a week back from a month-long break. This gave us a really good indication of what we have to work on heading into the bulk of the indoor season.' For the men, she noted, 'Knocking the dust off from break is just what was needed. Xzavion West was definitely a standout in the weight throw today; we saw some nice pieces coming together. It is just the beginning of indoor season, so we are excited to see how he builds from here.' The teams next compete at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational in Iowa City on the following Friday and Saturday.
