COLUMBIA, S.C. - With a week to go before the indoor track championship season, the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's and Women's Track and Field Teams traveled back to the University of South Carolina for the second time in three weeks, to compete in the 2023 USC Indoor Open.
Starting with the men's side, the Bears had some great success on the track, especially in the one mile run. Lenoir-Rhyne took first and second place thanks to Noah Julian's winning time of 4:34.39 and Jon Lakeman's time of 4:37.56, respectively.
Meanwhile, another event the men achieved well at was the men's 200-meter dash with the Bears having three top-six finishes. Trent Davis II, who recorded the second-place time of 21.23, was quickly followed by Jacob Wadsworth in fourth with a 21.62 time and John Sisson in sixth with a 21.86 posting.
Sticking with the short track, Davis II captured another top-three time in the men's 60-meter dash with a 6.808 sprint. In the heats, the junior ran the fastest time of 6.75 seconds. Royce Turner Jr. also appeared in the finals and finished eighth with a seven second dash.
Jacob Parkinson gave the Bears another podium finish with a third place run in the men's 3000-meter event with an 8:31.30 time. In the men's 800-meter run, Leo Martinez took ninth place with a 2:00.13 finish.
For the women, there success came in the field led up Olivia Jackson, who got two top 10 finishes. The senior placed seventh in the women's shot put with a throw of 11.33 meters and tenth in the women's weight throw with a toss of 13.89 meters.
A couple of Bears finished in the top 10 in the women's pole vault with Pearl Ballard getting seventh with a clearance of 3.20 meters and Stacie Jorgensen coming in 10th with a three-meter vault. In the women's high jump, Miranda Marr also finished in the top ten with a seventh-place hurdle of 1.45 meters.
The men also had a successful day on the field where a few Bears ended in the top eight for three separate events.
Ellis Horton was able to place in the top eight in two separate events, a seventh-place finish in the men's weight throw after hoisting a 15.4-meter toss, and an eighth-place result in the men's shot put with his throw traveling 14.02 meters. Dalton Hatley just missed out on a top-three finish with the fourth-best throw in the men's shot put of 15.12 meters.
Lenoir-Rhyne had a couple of men place in the top ten for pole vault with Mike Karicher coming in fourth with a 4.40-meter clear and Noah Rhodes finishing seventh with his 4.10-meter leap.
Both the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's and Women's Track and Field squads will return to action next weekend as they compete in the SAC Indoor Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. The two-day event will begin on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 12:00 p.m.
