HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Butler men's track and field team took third place at the Region VI Outdoor Championships on Saturday at Gowans Stadium.
Butler scored 101 points, finishing behind Region VI champion Barton (213) and Cloud County (160).
Sophomore sprinter Travis Collins had the top performance for the Grizzlies by winning the 100-meter dash event with a time of 10.19 seconds. Collins took home three medals, as he placed third in the 200-meter dash and helped the 4x100-meter relay team to a runner-up finish.
Collins, who has the second-fastest 100-meter dash time in the NJCAA at 10.09 seconds, edged Barton's Christian Lyon (10.27) to win the event. Grizzly freshman Tavarius Wright took fifth (10.57), giving Butler two placers in the event.
In the 4x100, Kyandre Lyons, Collins, Wright and Steven Simmons clocked in at 40.55 seconds, finishing behind Barton (39.99).
Butler took third in three events – including Collins' 20.68 time in the 200-meter dash and sophomore Ade' Mason in the triple jump. Mason's top leap came in preliminaries after fouling on his first two attempts, as he landed a mark of 15.28 meters (50'-1 ¾").
The Grizzlies ended the meet with a third-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay, as the team of Simmons, Jameel Austin, Mario Thomas and Shaquan Woods finished with a time of 3:17.21.
Outside of the 100-meter dash, Butler had two individual placers in four other events – 110- and 400-meter hurdles, 800-meter run and high jump.
Terrance Mayes (1:56.56) and Madison Edwards (1:56.60) finished 4-5 in the 800-meter run, while Leroy Wilson III (55.33) and Ronaldo Griffith (55.44) went 5-6 in the 400-meter hurdle event.
In the 110 hurdles, Tard Smith Jr. (14.57) and Josh Ramirez (15.10) finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
Other Grizzly placers on Saturday were:
- Shaquan Woods, 400-meter dash (48.18, fourth)
- Dariaye Wooten, high jump (1.93 meters, seventh)
- Tard Smith Jr., high jump (1.88 meters, eighth)
- Derrick Reid, 1500-meter run (4:09.11, eighth)
- Eliud Koech, 5,000-meter run (16:02.04, eighth)
Butler had three placers in the two-day decathlon, which was run on Thursday and Friday. Sophomore Lewis Cain was the top Grizzly by taking fourth with 5,582 points. Tard Smith Jr. followed with a fifth-place finish with 5,603 points, while Leroy Wilson III took eighth at 5,145 points.
Cain had a pair of first-place finishes in the long jump and the discus while adding a runner-up placing in the high jump, clearing 1.84 meters (6'-¾"). In the long jump, Cain's top leap came on his final attempt at 6.72 meters (22'-¾"). His top discus throw came on the opening attempt with a distance of 36.24 (118'-11").
Smith won the high jump event with a bar clearance of 1.93 meters (6'-4"), took second in the 1,500-meter run (4:44.96) and had third-place finishes in both the 400-meter dash (50.24) and 110-meter hurdles (15.63). Wilson took third in the 1,500m run (4:59.38) and discus (28.73 meters, 94'-3").
On Friday, Butler had two fourth-place finishes in the javelin and 4x800-meter relay. Sophomore Nick Nece had his top javelin throw of 55.66 meters (182'-7") on his final preliminary attempt, while the Grizzly team of Clifton Casurra, Madison Edwards, Terrance Mayes and Derrick Reid ran 7:50.49 in the 4x800 relay.