ROME, Ga. – The Centre men's track & field team cruised to victory at the Berry Field Day with a dominant performance, scoring 201 points to win the meet and break three school records in the process.
The first record to fall happened in the first field event on Friday as
David Harless smashed his prior school record in the hammer, besting it by nearly ten full feet. Harless posted a mark of 175-3 (53.41m) to take second place in the event, with
Luke Cole finishing seventh.
In the triple jump, All-American
Cree Ross got the win for the Colonels with a mark of 48-2 (14.68m), followed by
Ant Barbee in eighth place.
Moving to Friday's track events, the first event of the evening was the 400m hurdles and
Justin Lewis finished fourth overall with a time of 56.18, followed closely by
Julian Veliquette in fifth. In Saturday's 110m hurdles, it was Veliquette who led the way for Centre, finishing with a time of 15.62, with Lewis taking sixth place.
In the 1500m,
Carter Russell paced the Colonels with a time of 4:03.98 to take sixth place. The last event of the Friday session was the 5k and senior
Luke Napier picked up his first collegiate victory, clocking in at 14:58.27, with
Reeve VanDemark,
Noah George and
Houston Brooks all getting into the scoring column as well.
The Saturday field session began with the shot put and the Colonels had the top two finishers as Harless got the win with a mark of 51-8 (15.75), followed closely by Cole in second place, with
Tyler Garner giving the Colonels an extra point with an eighth place finish.
In the long jump, Ross finished third overall with a mark of 22-5.25, with
Isaac Johnson taking sixth place for the Centre men.
Next up was the javelin and Cole paced the Colonels by throwing an even 180 feet (54.86m) to come in third place overall, with Veliquette taking sixth.
The next record to fall in the field events came in the high jump when
Michael Smith cleared 6-7.5 (2.02m) to win the event and regain the program record. Johnson took third place for Centre in the same event.
Centre picked up another win in a throwing event as Harless took first place in the discus with a mark of 158-6 (48.32m), with Cole taking fifth place to give the Colonels 14 total points in the discus.
The first track event of the Saturday session was the men's 4x100m relay and Centre set a program record as Ross teamed with
Brayden Carman,
Jackson Heim and
Jayden Channer to get the win with a new school record time of 41.33.
In the 400m, school record holder Heim picked up the win as he clocked in at 47.72 to take first place.
Next up was the 100m and Channer earned the victory for the Colonels as he crossed the finish line in 10.55 to get the win, followed by Ross in fourth place. Channer got another win for Centre in the 200m as he posted a winning time of 21.29, with Heim and Carman both cracking the top five to give Centre 20 of a possible 39 points for the race.
In the 3000m steeplechase,
Quinn Gulden led the way for Centre with a time of 10:14.58 to finish third overall, with
Cole Roberson taking sixth place.
The final event of the meet was the men's 4x400m and
Stephen Jones teamed with Heim, Lewis and Veliquette to take second place with a time of 3:23.22.
NEXT UP
The next meet for the Colonels will be the Centre Twilight on Apr. 17.
