photo by Ty Smith
Freshman sprinter Chereese Langley runs in the 4×400 meter relay on Jan. 31 at the SPIRE Midwest Open. The women’s 4×200 meter relay team won the first event of the history of the program on Saturday.
Point Park men’s and women’s track and field teams competed on Saturday at the Mt. Union Jim Wuske Invitational in Alliance, Ohio.
The women’s 4×200-meter relay team that consisted of Amber Brown, Taelor Fowler, Chereese Langley and Jahniah McAllister competed for the first time and was the highlight of the meet.
The relay team won the first event ever for the University at their fourth meet with a time of 1:48.98. Langley, a freshman sprinter from Dubois Pa., said winning the race was an achievement for the group.
“Being able to put together a 4×200 relay team for our very first time running it and placing first was such an awesome feeling and great experience,” said Langley, who ran the third leg in the event. “It felt very accomplishing to know we are the first people to get first in Point Park history, and I know there will be a lot more firsts coming from us in the future.”
Darian Leighty, a sophomore sprinter, cheered from the stands and said the ladies did great.
“They did very well,” Leighty said. “Especially Jahniah. She was the first runner and just booked it for the race. She just ran and they all kept up ahead.”
On the men’s side, senior shot putter Michael Beavis threw a career high of 10.19 meters.
Jryi Davis set a school record in the long jump. The freshman from Bangor, Pa., placed third with a leap of 13.49 meters.
Christian Capers, a freshman sprinter and hurdler on the men’s team, placed sixth in the 60-meter dash, breaking his personal record with a time of 8.95 seconds.
The track and field teams currently practice in the Student Center and travel to Youngstown State University in Ohio weekly to practice on an indoor track.
The track the teams competed on Saturday was 200 meters, smaller than what they are used to. Freshman distance runner Eric Torres, who was second in the men’s KIAC cross country championship last fall, said running on a 200-meter track can be difficult.
“On the 200-meter track things just shifted. The past couple meets we’ve been running on a 300-meter track. I guess jumping from a 300 to a 200 was just something that was brand new for a lot of people,” Torres said. “We kind of struggled for a little bit, but we still pulled through.”
Torres ran in the 3,000-meter run and came in 10th place with a time of 9:24.64.
More notable performances came from freshmen sprinters Alexander Vaughn and Zachary Watt. Vaughn led the Pioneers in the 400-meter dash coming in ninth place with a time of 52.90 seconds and Watt less than a second behind with a time of 53.11.
The Pioneers next meet is on Feb. 13 at the Baldwin Wallace Mid-February Meet in Berea, Ohio.
“I just want to continue to stay dedicated and keep working hard during the week,” Langley said. “I know it will show at my next meets.”
