Track breaks more records against Power Four foes

Troy’s track and field team returned to Florida State on Friday and Saturday to compete in the Dick Roberts Seminole Invite. The Trojans raced against mostly Floridia-based schools like FSU, Florida A&M University and the University of North Florida, with some unattached Auburn and USSU athletes competing as well. 

Tayjo Oppong won third place in the men’s hammer throw , launching the hammer 52.09m.

Oppong also grabbed second place in the men’s discus event, throwing the discus 49.65m. 

Whitney Clark, Carlee Craft and Tyler McKinnell all achieved personal bests in their respective javelin events, with scores of 44.43, 40.40 and 61.12 meters, respectively. Both Clark and McKinnell won first place, and Clark beat her old personal best by almost three meters. McKinnell won the men’s javelin as the only competitor. 

The team of Travis Massey, Michael Eady, Jared Jones and Milos Nisic earned first place in the men’s 4x100m relay with a time of 40.28. The men also earned second place during the 4x400m relay, with Romario Taylor, Jasai Taylor, Devyn Pearman and Jonas Koturenka running a 3:15.75. 

In the women’s 400m event, Jasmine Jimenez won first place , running a 57.29. Jaime Preston and Aaliyah Murphy were right behind Jimenez in the event. Preston grabbed third place with a time of58.57, and Murphy earned fifth with a time of 59.31. Macada McDonald won third place in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.94. 

Jonas Koturenka won second place in the men’s 800m, barely getting beat out by less than a second. Koturenka ran a time of 1:50.14, which is also his personal best. 

Ethan Forbes, Patterson Graham and Caden Blackman took third, sixth and eighth place in the men’s 1500m with times of 3:54.15, 3:58.96 and 4:00.63, respectively. Lane Watson won the men’s 5000m as the only competitor with a time of 15:25.14. 

The Trojans will be back in action on Friday, Apr. 17, in Atlanta, competing in the Georgia Tech Invitational.