Statesmen to Battle at Nationals

Oskaloosa--Several William Penn men's track and field athletes will take on the nation's best as they compete at the U.S. Marines NAIA Men's Outdoor Track and Field National Championship Wednesday through Friday.

The 73rd annual event, which is hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University, will be held in Marion, Ind.

William Penn has six individual qualifiers, while one relay crew has also qualified.

Xzavion West (Jr., Guthrie, Ky., Undecided) will kick things off for the navy and gold on Wednesday in the hammer throw at 10 a.m. (all times are Central).  The junior enters the competition ranked fourth with a toss of 198-9.

The 4x800-meter relay team of Andrew Miller (So., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science), Ethan Varvelo (Sr., Channelview, Texas, Engineering Technology), Gavin Huff (Fr., Mascoutah, Ill.), and Brandon Williams (Sr., Fountain, Colo., Engineering Technology) then battle in the preliminary round Wednesday at 5:50 p.m.  The squad has the 24th-best time at 7:41.98.

Miller will return to the track an hour later, along with D'Artagnon Beaver (Sr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services), in the 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims at 6:55 p.m.  Miller is 22nd overall (9:24.69), while Beaver is sixth at 9:10.35.

Showalter Johnson (Sr., Nassau, Bahamas, New Media) will be WPU's only athlete on Thursday, sprinting in the 100-meter dash prelims at 2:40 p.m.  He is 13th in the field at 10.31 seconds.

On Friday, West is again in action, throwing the shot put at 12 p.m., while Anthony Weaver (So., Demopolis, Ala., Mechanical Engineering) competes in the triple jump at 12:30 p.m.  West is 12th in the NAIA (54-7.25), while Weaver is 13th in the country (48-10.25).

To view the complete meet schedule, click HERE

To view live video, click HERE