SALEM, Va.  For the second straight week the Methodist University track & field program was competing in the state of Virginia, this time at the Joe LaRocco Invitational. The Saturday, February 10, event took place on the campus of Roanoke College.

THE ESSENTIALS
Event: Joe LaRocco Invitational
Host: Roanoke College
Location: Cregger Field House; Salem, Virginia

TOP TRACK PERFORMANCES

• A number of Monarchs, both men & women, ran in the 60 meter prelim dash. Brandi Gardner highlights the women's side as her 8.27 second time was the fastest time of all prelim participants. This qualified her to run in the semis, but she did not race again that way she could focus on the other events.
• From the men, freshman Logan Wade came in sixth with a new personal record of 7.26. Along with classmate Tydrick Stewart, who automatically qualified due previous career marks, Wade advanced to the 60m semis. In the semis, Stewart would also set a new personal record, 7.04, and come in 10^th place.
• Most of the same runners from the 60m also ran in the 200m race. Placing in the top-10, on the women's side, was Gardner with a time of 27.05. Freshman Torrey Williams was the fastest Methodist male runner, who set a personal record of 23.62.
• Running a season-best two minutes, 00.61 seconds in the men's 800m was Austin Ezzell, who also came in fifth place.
• Logan Williams cracked the top-10 in the men's mile with a time of 4:46.59, a personal record.

TOP FIELD PERFORMANCES

• Setting a season-best was Komla Akogo in the men's high jump, as he surpassed the 1.84 meter mark. This gave him a fifth place finish in the event.
• After multiple track events, Gardner's only field event was the women's long jump. With her best leap of 5.21 meters, she came in fourth overall.
• Jeremiah Freeman had a pretty successful day in both the men's long & triple jump. A 5.87m long jump placed him in the 10^th while a 12.44m performance in the triple gave him 8^th.

NEXT UP
Methodist will have next couple of weeks to prepare for the inaugural 2024 USA South Indoor Track & Field Championship, taking place on February 23 at the JDL Fast Track.