MONMOUTH, Ore.—Taking advantage of one of the better days outdoors this spring, more than a dozen Concordia track & field athletes posted career bests at the Western Oregon John Knight Invitational on Friday.

 

In addition, four new marks surpassed NAIA Outdoor National Championship standards. On the women’s side, Eunice Makinde placed first overall with a 14.63 in the 100-meter hurdles to tackle the automatic standard of 14.90, while Laurun Moran, competing in the steeplechase, placed second overall with an 11:18.67 to better the ‘A’ standard of 11:25.00.

 

Two Concordia provisional marks occurred in the field events as Branko Djurcic placed first with a 46-10 for nearly a two-foot season best over his 45-1 1/2 effort from earlier in the year at the Stanford Invitational. Joining Djuricic with a ‘B’ qualifier was Justin Schlaht in the javelin throw. Schlaht improved upon his season best by almost 13 feet with a 186-3 which registered as a fourth-place finish on Friday.

 

A pair of performances in the shot put improved upon highly ranked listing in the NAIA performance lists. Gabriella Dixson, already the nation’s leader in the event, unleashed a 48-6 1/4 to add 18 inches to her season-best mark. Dixson led a 1-2-3-4 Concordia finish in the event with a 48-6 1/4 and was followed by Katherine Tripp in second with a 42-6 1/4, Sharayah Kenady in third with a 38-7 3/4 and Emily Redmayne-Titley in fourth with a 37-2 1/4.

 

The same quartet replicated the feat in the discus with Kenady and Redmayne-Titley switching places for third and fourth place.

 

Overall the Cavaliers won 10 events at the John Knight Invite. Along with his win in the triple jump, Djuricic cleared 6-4 in the high jump or another victory while Catherine Sims also nabbed a pair of wins by toppling the field in both the 200 and 400.

 

Stephanie Persaud flirted with a career-best in the 100 with a 12.30 to give the Cavs a sweep in the women’s sprinting events. Persaud and Sims teamed up with Linsie Michels and Kristina Cupp to take home the title in the 1m600-meter relay and Ben Foubert slashed more than 40 seconds off his 5,000 time to win the 5,000 with a 15:44.21 in just his second attempt at the distance at the collegiate level

 

100: 2. Jameson Futter, 11.08; 10. Matt Challender, 11.43; 12. Chris Andres, 11.56; 15. Andre Washington, 11.68; 17. Chris Wilson, 11.76. 200: 8. Matt Challender, 22.94; 11. Andre Washington, 22.99; 17. Chris Andres, 23.64. 400: 7. Trevor Schwanz, 51.77. 800: 6. Josh Burrus, 2:00.59. 5,000: 1. Ben Foubert, 15:44.21. Steeplechase: 5. Andrew Landstrom, 10:12.58. High Jump: 1. Branko Djuricic, 6-4 (1.93m). Pole Vault: 2. Cody Vaughn, 13-7 1/4 (4.15m). Long Jump: 3. Jameson Futter, 21-2 3/4 (6.47m). Triple Jump: 1. Branko Djuricic, 46-10 (14.27m). Shot: 2. Eric Whalen, 52-4 1/2 (15.96m); 3. Anthony Lantz, 50-6 (15.39m); 5. Ismael Osorio, 47-11 3/4 (14.62m); 8. Bo Johnson, 42-3 1/4 (12.88m). Discus: 4. Bo Johnson, 145-0 (44.21m); 6. Anthony Lantz, 140-3 (42.76m); 7. Eric Whalen, 139-5 (42.50m)­; 10. Ismael Osorio. 133-4 (40.64m). Javelin: 4. Justin Schlaht, 186-3 (56.78m); 6. Tim Wyland, 183-10 (56.04m); 7. Jesse Staub, 183-6 (55.93m). 1,600 Relay: 2. Concordia, 3:25.14 (Andre Washington, Matt Challender, Trevor Schwanz, Josh Burrus)

 

100: 1. Stephanie Persaud, 12.30; 3. Eunice Makinde, 12.78; 9. Kayla Richardson, 13.60. 200: 1. Catherine Sims, 25.15; 3. Stephanie Persaud, 25.49; 7. Eunice Makinde, 26.11; 16. Kayla Richardson, 27.48. 400: 1. Catherine Sims, 58.01; 8. 8. Kristina Cupp, 1:05.58. 800: 4. Linsie Michels, 2:16.93. 10,000: 5. Maggie Pesanti, 41:47.37. 100 Hurdles: 1. Eunice Makinde, 14.63. Steeplechase: 2. Lauren Moran, 11:18.67. Long Jump: 9. Kristin Sass, 14-6 1/2 (4.43m). Triple Jump: 2. Kristin Sass, 35-7 1/4 (10.85m).  Pole Vault: 2. Kaycee Gillespie, 10-6 (3.20m). Shot: 1. Gabriella Dixson, 48-6 1/4 (14.79m); 2. Katherine Tripp, 42-6 1/4 (12.96m); 3. Sharayah Kenady, 38-7 3/4 (11.78m); 4. Emily Redmayne-Titley, 37-2 1/4 (11.33m). Discus: 1. Gabriella Dixson, 155-2 (47.29m); 2. Katherine Tripp, 142-8 (43.49m); 3. Emily Redmayne-Titley, 140-11 (42.95m); 4. Sharayah Kenady, 123-5 (37.61m). Javelin: 1. Aria Nojima, 149-10 (45.69m). 1,600 Relay: 1. Concordia, 4:03.59 (Stephanie Persaud, Linsie Michels, Catherine Sims, Kristina Cupp).