WPU Athletics
Wade Steinlage, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications

GRINNELL – The William Penn men’s track and field program recorded six golds Saturday en route to an overall team crown at the Grinnell Invitational.

The Statesmen were first out of seven teams with 156 points, while host Grinnell was a distant runner-up with 119 points.

Chris Leiba (Jr., Olympia, Wash., Business Management) was a huge addition to the squad Saturday as he highlighted his season debut with titles in the 60 and 200-meter dashes, running in times of 6.98 and 22.83 seconds, respectively.

Joel Brown (Fr., Columbus, Ga.), Mofiyinfoluwa Alade (So., Hoffman Estates, Ill.), Brenden Foster (Jr., Rock Hill, S.C., Biology), and Sage Ehresman (Jr., Sully, Iowa, Exercise Science) also topped one field each.  Brown won the long jump at 21-2, Alade was first in the high jump at 6-4, Foster claimed the 60-meter hurdles win in 8.70 seconds, and Ehresman took the victory in the shot put at 49-0.25.

Brown also placed second in the 60 in 7.19 seconds, while Alade earned silver in the 60 hurdles in 8.97 seconds.

Multiple placings came from three others as well, including Michael Hubbard(Sr., Gary, Ind., Exercise Science) who was third in both the 60 (7.20) and 200 (23.95).  Loys Parker(Fr., St. Louis, Mo.) matched Hubbard with two bronzes of his own in the long (19-9.5) and triple jumps (39-8.5), while Matthew Cuthbert (Sr., Yucaipa, Calif., Sociology) ended up third in the shot put (43-5.75) and fourth in the weight throw (41-11.5).

Corey Jackson (Fr., Dallas, Texas) came up just shy of his own title, placing second in the 400-meter dash in 55.24 seconds.  Malcolm Nelson (Fr., Jacksonville, Ark., Communications), in third in 55.45 seconds, and Julian Davis(So., Palmer, Alaska, Mechanical Engineering), in fourth in 57.21 seconds, were right behind Jackson in the 400.

Andrew Leverette (So., Fort Worth, Texas), in a time of 9.29 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, and Kenneth Bolton III (Fr., South Riding, Va.), in a time of 2:02.22 in the 800-meter run, were also third Saturday.  Jason Castano (Jr., Miami, Fla., Industrial Technology) recorded a high finish as well as he was sixth in the weight throw (40-0.5).

“Today was filled by outstanding performances by both of our squads,” Head Coach Allen Friesen said.  “Our Statesmen came to compete!  I cannot remember the last time we had so many people finishing in the top five in so many events.”

William Penn travels to Des Moines Tuesday to compete in the Grand View Field Meet.