Track and Field | 2/6/2021 6:19:00 PM
SALEM, Va. Though the 2020-21 indoor track & field season was shortened to just one meet for Methodist's men's and women's squads, Saturday's Noke Elite Meet hosted by Roanoke College was long on noteworthy performances for the Monarchs.
The highlight of the day was the new school record set in the men's 4,000-meter distance medley relay. The quartet of
Connor Ayers,
Brendan Douglas,
Stephen Dukes and
Drew Topoly captured the event with a winning time of 10 minutes, 54.46 seconds, breaking the previous MU record of 11:11.40 which had been set during the 2015-16 indoor season.
THE ESSENTIALS
Event: Noke Elite Meet
Location: Cregger Center; Salem, Va.
OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES
- In addition to helping set the DMR record, Dukes won the 800-meter run in a time of 2:08.44 and ran the third leg of the third place 4x400m relay.
- Also racing to a podium performance in the 800 was Austin Ezzell whose second place finishing time of 2:08.84 nearly stole the victory from Dukes.
- Top finishes in the women's distance events were provided by Makayla Lawler and Courtney Drumm. Lawler won the women's mile with a clocking of 5:32.52 – 15 seconds ahead of the runner-up – and Drumm finished second in the women's 800 in a time of 2:38.31.
- In the longest individual event of the day, the men's 3,000m run, it was Drew Topoly placing second for the Monarchs with a time of 9:03.27 while Ayers finished fourth (9:35.32).
- The sprints saw several top times for Methodist as Ethan Ward earned the top spot after the preliminary heats of the men's 60-meter dash, then backed up that performance with a first-place time of 7.12 seconds in the final of the 60. Ward added a sixth-place finish (24.01 seconds) later in the day in the 200m.
- Teammate AJ Matthews added seventh-place finishes in both the 60 (7.38) and the 200 (24.12), as well as a seventh early in the day in the long jump (5.27m, 17-3.5).
- Isaiah Cuthrell had quite the day in the field events, winning the high jump and finishing third in the triple jump. Cuthrell cleared a height of 1.83 meters (6 feet-0 inches) to snare the first place medal, then hit a mark of 11.77m (38-7.5) in the triple jump.
NEXT UP
With the recent announcement by the NCAA of the cancellation of winter Division-III championships, Methodist's track & field teams will move on to the outdoor season, beginning with the Tiger Relays at Savannah State (Ga.) University on March 6.
