The Butler men's track and field team posted seven first-place finishes Saturday at the Ev Kohls Grizzly Classic, which was held at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex.
The Grizzlies, ranked second in this week's NJCAA Division I poll, set four meet records at the Classic, starting with the 4x100-meter relay team of two freshman - Kyandre Lyons and Travis Collins - and two sophomores - Akeem Sirleaf and Andre Ewers. The quartet cruised to a top finish of 40.73 seconds.
Butler had four top-eight finishers in the 200-meter dash, with Ewers leading the way with a first-place meet-record time of 20.52 seconds. Sirleaf (21.14) and sophomore James Hambrick (21.19) took third and fourth, while Jamoul Pierre was eighth with a time of 21.40 seconds.
The Grizzlies had four first-place victories in field events and dominated all three jump events. Hambrick won the long jump with a mark of 7.26 meters (23' 10") in his second preliminary attempt. In the high jump, freshman Tyson Penn cleared 2.08 meters (6' 9 3/4") on his first attempt. Both Hambrick and Penn set meet-record jumps en-route to winning their events.
Sophomore Elijah Smith was the triple jump winner, going 13.76 meters (45' 1 3/4") in his first attempt. Sophomore Kendal McGuire took top honors in the javelin, heaving a final throw of 50.65 meters (166' 2")
In the 110-meter hurdles, sophomore Jhibri Greer had the top time of 14.86 seconds.
In addition to the seven first-place finishes, Butler had five runner-up finishes. Including Hambrick's win in the long jump, the Grizzlies dominated the event by sweeping the top five spots. Freshman Ade Adefolalu placed second with a jump of 7.13 meters, then was followed by Bryce Isaac (7.09m), Tyson Penn (7.08m) and Elijah Smith (7.07m).
Collins was runner-up in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.22 seconds. Lyons (10.36) and Cameron Emery (10.40) placed fourth and fifth, giving Butler three top-five finishes in the event.
Butler had two runner-up finishes in both the triple and high jump events. Isaac took second with a triple jump mark of 13.70 meters, while teammate Mason Buckmaster finished third at 13.58 meters. In the high jump, sophomore Landon Cuskelly was runner-up at 2.03 meters, followed by Buckmaster in sixth at 1.88 meters.
In distance events, freshman Hillary Kiptoo (10,000-meter run, 40:01.00) and sophomore Boniface Kiptoo (1,500-meter run, 4.08.81) both took second place in their respective events.
Other Grizzly places during Saturday's Classic were:
- 800-meter run: Boniface Kiptoo (2:01.73, 3rd), Derrick Reid (2:02.80, 6th)
- 5,000-meter run: Emmanuel Biwott (16:18.92, 3rd)
- 400-meter hurdles: Mario Thomas (57.74, 6th)
- 3,000-meter steeplechase: Eliud Koech (10:07.97, 3rd)
- Triple jump: Nick Nece (46.62m, 4th), Bryce Isaac (43.73m, 8th)
Butler will next be in action this weekend at Wichita State's K.T. Woodman Classic. A distance carnival along with the javelin event begins Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Cessna Stadium. On Saturday, running events open with the 10,000-meter run at 10:30 a.m., while field events begin at 11:00 a.m.
