St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Western Track & Field teams got off to a strong start on Friday in their second meet of the season at the Northwest Missouri State Open in Maryville.
Two Griffon women captured individual titles as junior Bailey Gilbert won the Pentathlon and freshman Madison Nash took home first place in the 5000 meter run.
Gilbert won the Pentathlon High Jump and Long Jump, finished second in the Shot Put, third in the 60 meter Hurdles and sixth in the 800 meter run. She finished with 3,132 points to defeat Northwest's Anna Gladstone by 73 points. MWSU's sophomore Erin Miller placed seventh in the Pentathlon.
Nash dominated the 5000 meter field Friday night with a time of 19:07.20, which was 23 seconds faster than any other competitor. Missouri Western junior Janet Nyamboneka finished third with a time of 19:59.25.
Junior Konner Larkin was the top finisher for the Griffon men Friday as he placed eighth in the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:46.67. The Distance Medley Relay was the only other event that took place on Friday night and the MWSU women finished fourth (13:07.28) and men were sixth (11:01.26).
Northwest Missouri State recap
As for the Bearcats, in women's penthalon action, four Bearcats competed throughout the day Friday.
Anna Gladstone earned a second-place finish for her efforts. Gladstone won the 60m hurdles (9.43s), taking fourth in the shot put (29-04.75, 8.96 m), and tied for second with teammate Morgan Masters in the high jump (5-02.25, 1.58m). She placed third in the long jump (16-07.75, 5.07m) and fifth in the 800m run (2:46.09).
Masters placed third behind Gladstone in the event. She took sixth in the 60m hurdles (10.31s) and finished third in the shot put (30-02.75, 9.21m) to go along with her second-place high jump finish. Masters also took second in the long jump (16-11.25, 5.16m) and edged teammate Madison Simmons for third in the 800m run (2:44.26).
Randi Overkamp placed second in the 60m hurdles (9.71s) before finishing ninth in the high jump (4-07, 1.40m) and sixth in the shot put (28-05.5, 8.67m). She also finished sixth in the long jump (15-11.75, 4.87m) and won the 800m run (2:32.00). Overkamp placed fourth overall in the pentathlon.
Simmons finished seventh in the 60m hurdles (10.77s), tied for fifth in the high jump (4-10.5, 1.49m), and finished eighth in the shot put (24-09.75, 7.56m). She also placed fifth in the long jump (16-02.25, 4.93m) and fourth in the 800m run (2:44.85).
In evening running events, the Northwest women's distance medley relay team of Caroline Cunningham, Aliyah Simmons, Bailey Blake and Delanie Dykes won the event with a NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time of 12:00.38.
The Bearcat men's distance medley team of Jake Norris, Prince Griffin, Abdelrahim Mahgoub, and Reece Smith also broke records with their time of 9:49.43. That time not only broke the Northwest Missouri State and Hughes Fieldhouse records, but it also met NCAA Division II provisional qualifying time.
The Northwest Open will continue Saturday inside the Hughes Fieldhouse in Maryville with the women's Pole Vault getting the day started at 11:00 a.m. and the 60 meter Hurdle prelims will be the first running event at 1:00 p.m.
Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri State are two of 16 teams competing this weekend. The field also includes Central Oklahoma, Concordia University Irvine, Drury, Grand View, Indian Hills, Iowa Wesleyan, Iowa Western, Lincoln, Maryville, Nebraska-Kearney, Quincy, Truman State, William Jewell and William Penn.
With COVID-19 restrictions in place, fans will not be allowed to attend the meet this weekend. However, Northwest Missouri State will provide a free video stream of the action on The MIAA Network and live results courtesy of Black Squirrel Timing.