MARIETTA, GA.- The Life University track & field team continued its outdoor season on Wednesday, April 15th as they hosted the Life U Mid-Week Mini. The event was held at the Upper Field, located on the Life University campus. The Running Eagles put together a dominate display as a team, which led to the team leaving with one single-B standard mark. 

For the women, junior Zaria Bonafede got things started for Life U in the 100-meter dash, placing third overall with a time of 12.32 while teammate Payton Knowles finished fourth with a time of 12.34. In the 200-meter dash, freshman Kamarra Trisch placed second overall with a time of 26.18. In the 100-meter hurdles race, freshman Essence Sands collected a second-place finish in a time of 15.74, while her teammate Laisha Hernandez placed fourth overall with a time of 17.80. 

In the longer runs of the day for the women, senior Najah Gibson ran a personal-best time of 2:16.04 on her way to a first-place finish in the 800-meter dash event. Sophomore Carmen Crawford also ran a personal best time of 5:23.65 on her way to a first-place finish in the 1500-meter run event. The Running Eagles put together a relay team to compete in the 4x800 meter relay race. The ladies went on to place first overall in the event running a time of 10:40.27. 

In the field events, Life U put together a clinic. Senior Megan Judge got things started by winning the pole vault event with a mark of 3.38. In the shot put event, all five Running Eagles placed in the top 10, headlined by junior Katelyn Mendoza placing first overall with a personal-best mark of 13.11 meters. Sophomore Ava Falite placed second overall with her personal-best mark of 11.82 meters, Judge placed fourth with a mark of 10.78, while Sands placed sixth with a personal-best mark of 10.00 meters and Sandra DeSouza placed eighth with a mark of 9.24 meters. In the discus event, Mendoza took home first place again with a mark of 38.91, while DeSouza threw a personal-best mark of 32.17, good enough for third place. Sophomore Annalise Leitner placed fourth overall after a mark of 30.43 meters and Falite threw a personal-best mark of 25.82 for a fifth-place finish. In the hammer throw event, all three Running Eagles threw a personal best, headlined by Leitner winning the event with a throw of 46.12. Trailing her was DeSouza who finished second with a mark of 41.16 and Falite who finished fourth with a mark of 38.27. Finally, in the javelin throwing event, Judge placed second after throwing 33.93 meters, while her teammate Sands placed sixth overall after throwing 25.38 meters. 

On the track for the men, the Life U men started things off by sweeping the 100-meter dash race as sophomore Jamario Russell took home first place after running 11.12. Sophomore Liam Naicker and senior Kenadie Stinson rounded out the top-three after running 11.39 and 11.76 respectively. In the 200-meter dash race, Naicker took home first place after running a time of 23.05, while teammate Nigel Hepburn ran a time of 25.86 for a fourth-place finish. Senior Jeremiah Giddens took home first place in the 400-meter dash event after running a time of 50.09. 

In the longer running events of the day, Life U freshmen Josh McKinlay and Lasse Klopprogge placed first and third overall. McKinlay took the victory after running a time of 4:09.53, while Klopprogge took third with a time of 4:21.79. The Running Eagles also put together a relay team to compete in the 4x800 meter relay race; the team consisted of McKinlay, Abedelemejid Kerebo, Abedeleselam Kerebo and Julien Jansen. The men went on to place first overall in the event running a time of 8:10.79.  

On the field event side for the men, Christian Dixon got things started with a first-place finish in the shot put event with a mark of 15.50 meters. Sophomore Michael Holbrook placed fifth overall after throwing 12 meters flat, while juniors Winston Sanders and Akinwale Dare placed sixth and tenth overall after throwing 11.86 and 10.80 meters respectively. In the discus event, Sanders placed first overall after throwing 48.02 meters. Dixon placed second overall after throwing 46.79; Dare placed third after throwing 46.59, and Holbrook placed tenth after throwing 32.79 meters. Finally, in the men's hammer throw event, Sanders placed first overall after throwing a personal-best and a single-B standard mark of 57.48 meters. Sophomore Darius Barge placed third overall after throwing 51.29 meters, while Dixon placed fifth overall after throwing a personal-best 45.34 meters.  

Up Next: 

The Running Eagles will be back on the track on Friday, April 17th when they travel close to home to compete at the Georgia Tech Invitational.