Caledonia, MI – Alma College Track and Field headed to Davenport on Friday and Saturday to take part in the Davenport Tune Up. A strong group of performances was highlighted by a record shattering throw from Austin Derocher.
For the men, Chandler Holloway notched the first top 10 performance of the day, when he clocked a 11.09 in the 100 meters to take 7th place. Following him was Landon Jennings, who placed 7th in the 400 meters with a 50.72. Haydin Sims joined in on the fun with a 2:00.34 to take 9th place in the 800 meters. Sims and Jennings were then joined by Ross McNeel and Jordan Maxima in the 4x400 relay as Alma took home 1st place with a 3:35.38 to round out the running events.
In the field, Joseph Gonzales cleared 1.76 meters in the high jump to take home 7th place. Ed Markarian joined him, taking an identical 7th place in the long jump with a 5.91 meter leap. The pair combined for another result in the triple jump. Gonzales (12.60 meters) hopped on the podium in 3rd place, and Markarian (12.26 meters) was right behind in 4th. Markarian also placed 6th in the javelin with a hurl of 40.29 meters. The big winner for Alma was Austin Derocher. The junior took home 8th in the shot put, throwing 12.54 meters. However, it was his toss of 47.66 meters that shattered the Alma College record in the hammer throw by over 4 meters, placing him 5th overall.
On the women's side, Ericka Bigham pumped in another top 5 finish this season with a 59.15 in the 400 meters to take home 5th. Andrea Taghon finished 8th in the 100-meter hurdles with a 16.12. Taghon also picked up 7th in the 400-meter hurdles with a 1:08.51. Rounding out the running events was the 4x400 relay of Bigham, Taghon, Victoria Gotaas, and Cornelia Gotaas. The team combined for a 2nd place finish in 4:18.79.
When it came to the field events, Helena Snyder kicked things off with a 5th place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.54 meters. Mya Scott hit a clearance of 2.86 meters in the pole vault to take 6th. Scott also grabbed 10th in the javelin throw with a 27.64 meter hurl to finish things up.
The Scots are primed for MIAA Field Day, hosted by Olivet next week.
Story: Nick Nemeth, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
