By: Seth Stogsdill, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications
MURRAY, Ky. – On a cold and windy afternoon at Murray State University, the Centre men's track and field team competed in the Margaret Simmons Invitational. Facing a field of teams spanning all divisions, the Colonels scored 151.5 points in a dominant performance.
Starting things off in the sprints, freshman Tanner May finished seventh in the 100m with a time of 11.51 and then followed that up with a sixth place time of 23.72 in the 200m. May had the fastest time among freshmen in both events. May then teamed with Henry Gunner, Jake Pfaller and DeMontre Lewis to take fourth place in the 4x100 relay with a time of 44.35. In the 4x400m relay, Gunner and Pfaller teamed with Aaron Bastian and Thomas Burkey to finish third with a time of 3:36.45.
In the distance events, sophomore Noel Dingle got on the board with an eighth place finish in the 800m, posting a time of 2:05.51. In the 5k, sophomore Andrew Edwards finished in eighth place as well with a time of 15:47.43.
The Colonels dominated both hurdling events, finishing with ten of the 16 scoring times, led by Henry Gunner, who won the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.18 and finished second in the 400m hurdles. Mykal Bright, Thomas Burkey and Jake Pfaller also scored in both races for the Colonels.
The jumping events were also very good to the Centre men. Thomas Burkey, who competed in seven different events for the day and scored in five of them, won the pole vault after clearing 12-5.5. He also finished third in the high jump with a clear of 6-0.75. The Colonels had three scorers in the long jump, led by Henry Gunner with a mark of 20-11.75 to finish in fifth place. In the triple jump, Aaron Bastian had the best mark of the day for the Colonels at 42-6 to finish in third place.
Another strong area for the Colonels was the throwing events. Three Colonels scored in the shot put, led by indoor record holder Allen Richardson, who placed second overall with a mark of 44-2.75. After winning the discus two weeks ago at Berry, Bryce Whitman placed fourth in the event with a mark of 124-4. Whitman led four Colonels in the scoring column in the hammer, winning the event with a mark of 147-1, besting teammate Hunter Gann by one inch. Gann was the only Centre thrower to score in three events for the day, earning points in the shot put, discus and hammer. Finally, in the javelin, Carter Broome finished seventh overall with a throw of 115-0.
NEXT UP
Centre track and field will return to action on Mar. 30 with the Centre Invitational, the first of two home meets.
