ATLANTA, Ga.- The Life University track & field team continued its outdoor season on Saturday, April 4th at the Emory Dooley Elite track meet. The event was held at Emory University located in Atlanta, Ga. and the Running Eagles had a great showing, leaving with multiple personal-best records and three single-A standard and five single-B standard marks.  

On the track for the women sophomore, Payton Knowles ran a personal-best (PB) time of 12.21 in the 100-meter dash for a second-place finish. Later in the day, Knowles again ran another PB, this time in the 200-meter dash, and was able to hold on to the fifth-place position in that event. In the final "short" sprints race of the day for the Life U women, senior Najah Gibson ran her way to a fifth-place finish in a time of 57.19. 

In the 800-meter race, sophomore Sky Jones ran her way to a top 10 finish after running a time of 2:19.81, finishing sixth overall in the event. Jones' teammate freshman Maelle Spiegel also cracked the top 10 after finishing 10th, running a time of 2:25.78. Indoor season standout Emeline Delaville was back on the track for her outdoor season and picked up right where she left off. Delaville competed in the 1500-meter run and placed first after running a personal best time of 4:31.44, which was also good enough for a single-B standard. Freshman Essence Sands and sophomore Laisha Hernandez both put up good results in their respective events. Sands finished third in the 100-meter hurdles race, running a time of 15.29, while Hernandez finished sixth in the 400-meter hurdles race, running a personal best time of 1:06.07. In the final running event of the day, Life U ran two separate teams in the women's 4x400 meter relay. The relay team of Delaville, Gibson,Kamarra Trisch and Shevaughn Thomas ran to a single-A standard and first-place finish, after running a time of 3:43.70. The relay team of Hernandez, Knowles, Kyja Williams and Zaria Bonafede ran to a sixth-place finish running a time of 4:03.72. 

On the field side for the Life U women, junior Zaria Bonafede placed second overall in the long jump event after a mark of 5.42 meters while her teammate Sands placed ninth after jumping a mark of 4.79 meters. The Running Eagles had three women place in the top 10 in the shot put event. Junior Katelyn Mendoza led the way for Life U, finishing third overall throwing 12.36 meters. Her teammates, senior Tara Koonce who also threw a personal best, and sophomore Ava Falite finished fifth and eighth respectively with marks of 12.05 meters and 11.69 meters. In the discus event, sophomore Annalise Leitner finished ninth overall with a personal best mark of 33.93. Koonce would also place third in the hammer throw event with a single-B standard mark of 51.27 meters, while Leitner placed ninth in the event with another personal best mark of 44.97. In the final throwing event for the women Sands would again place in the top five this time in the javelin event with a mark of 27.17 meters. 

On the track for the men, juniors Sammy Samuel and Khalil Carr both ran personal best times in the 100-meter dash event which also led to both athletes finishing in the top-10 of the event. Samuel finished second overall with a time of 10.65 while Carr finished eighth in a time of 11.06. In the 400-meter dash, senior Gray McIntyre ran a personal-best time of 47.78 and finished second overall in the event. In the 800-meter race, senior Abedelemejid Kerebo ran his way to a top-10 finish after running a time of 1:52.89, finishing third overall in the event. Life U had two athletes place in the top-10 in the 1500 meter run as sophomore Elie Penitzka ran a personal best time of 4:01.84 for a seventh place finish, and freshman Julien Jansen ran a time of 4:04.42 for the covenant tenth-place spot. In the 400 hurdles event, all three Running Eagles placed top 10 with seniors Sean Hewitt and Drew Pochylko both running personal best times for a first and second finish. Freshman Justin Ducote was the other Running Eagle, and he came away with a covenant tenth-place spot of his own in the event. Hewitt ran a single-B standard time of 53.52, while his teammates Pochylko and Ducote ran times of 54.28 and 57.74. In the final track event of the day, Life U put two teams on the track for the 4x400 meter relay. The relay team of Hewitt, McIntyre, Kerebo and Omar Bajo came away with the event win as they ran a time of 3:17.74. Life U's second team featured Ducote, Pochylko, Samuel and Carr and they placed second running a time of 3:18.96. 

On the field side of things for the men, juniors Keondre Glover and Braden Deal placed first and third in the high jump event. Glover jumped a personal best 2.10 meters which was good enough for a single-A standard on his way to the victory, while Deal jumped 2.03 meters (.01 off his PB). Freshman Greyson Myers continued his outdoor season spark as he set a personal best of 4.50 meters in the pole vault event on his way to a second-place finish. In the sand for Life U, freshman Jacoby Puckett finished ninth overall in the long jump event with a mark of 6.45 meters. 

In the throwing events, Life U was able to dominate in comparison to other schools competing. In the shot put event, sophomore Darius Barge set a single-A standard mark of 17.54, which landed him at No.1 in the NAIA this year and first overall at the meet. Barge's teammate junior Christian Dixon got himself a fourth-place finish with a mark of 15.31. The discus event saw all three Running Eagles place in the top 10 as Dixon and junior Winston Sanders both walked away with single-B standard marks. Sanders led the way finishing second overall with his 50.59-meter throw; Dixon trailed closely behind for a fifth-place finish after his throw of 49.46 meters, junior Akinwale Dare also followed close behind finishing seventh overall with a mark of 47.65 meters. The men's hammer throw event finished with two Running Eagles in the top 5 as Sanders and Barge finished fourth and fifth respectively. Sanders threw a personal best of 53.58 meters, while Barge threw a mark of 50.99. Finally in the javelin event, Kerebo finished eighth overall after only one throw of 42.11 meters. 

Up Next: 

The Running Eagles will be back on the track on Friday, April 10th when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to compete in the Alabama Crimson Tide Invitational.