On Jan. 20 the Pratt Community College indoor track and field team competed in a two day meet at the Missouri Southern State University Open. The Blue and White competed in one of the biggest meets they will compete in for the 2017 indoor season.
Action for the Beavers started on day one with Wesley Jackson competing in the men's long jump. Wesley's best leap was a jump of 6.57m (21-06ft). That jump placed him eleventh in the meet out of 52 competitors, just missing finals by two spots. Wesley also competed in the 60m dash placing forty first with a time of 7.24 seconds.
PCC had four men run the 200m Dash. Two of the runners finished in the top ten. Anthony Paul finished seventh running a time of 22.77 seconds, and Chris McEnery took ninth running 22.79 seconds.
Justin Moore closed out the first day on the men's side for the Blue and White. Moore ran the 5000m Race finishing eleventh with a time of 17:00.75.
The first day for the women started with women's Triple Jump. Cayla Smither took sixteenth with a jump of 10.43m (34-06ft). Aaliyah Brown, and Tralesha Williams competed in the 60m dash. They finished thirty first with a time of 8.06 and sixtieth with a time of 8.27 in a field of 103 competitors. Tavaija Bennett ran the Women's 200m Dash and taking sixty first with a time of 27.86.
PCC continued their strong showing on day two of the meet. Anysia Romain kicked off day two for the Beavers with the long jump. Romain jumped 17ft to take ninth and set a new indoor school record for the Blue and White. Her jump broke the school record that was just set two weeks ago by Shaquarris Carter at the Kansas University Bill Easton Classic. This would not be the only record to fall that day. Finishing day two, the women's 4x400m relay team set a new indoor school record running a time of 4:26.76.
Several PCC runners ran in the mens 400m dash. Chris McEnery posted the fastest time for the Beavers that day placing fifth overall in a field of 78 athletes with a time of 51.04 seconds. Clifford Porter placed twentieth in the event with a time of 52.56 seconds.
"I am pleased with some of the performances that we had this week," said PCC track coach Josh Harden. "We have been working really hard to be ready and focused to compete well in meets like this. There is still a lot of room to grow with this group. They are all still learning how to attack some of the subtle differences of an indoor facility, but I do think we are showing some great improvement from when we opened up two weeks ago at KU."
Four school records have been broken since the start of the season two weeks ago at the University of Kansas on the women's side. Men took fifth overall in the 4x400m relay out of 27 teams running a time of 3.28.58. The only other schools running faster than the Blue and White being NCAA division two schools.
"We are consistently raising the bar," said Harden. "We have broken a few school records on the women's side. We are working towards making the program competitive again in multiple events, where we haven't been in quite some time. I'm excited to see how we continue to progress throughout the indoor season."
The PCC indoor track and field team hits the road to compete in the Bill Butterworth Shocker Track Club on Jan. 28.