The Park University indoor track & field program had an excellent start to the 2024-25 season at the Mel Tjeerdsma Classic on Saturday in Maryville, Mo. hosted by Northwest Missouri State University.
Park's day was full of individual accomplishments, including two Pirates meeting "A" qualifying standards to the 2025 NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Gainesville, Fla. on February 27 through March 1.
Rosjai Curtis and
Ahmad Evans both took 1
st Place women's and men's long jump and triple jump. Evans qualified in both events with a 7.27m long jump and a 14.40m triple jump. He is leaps and bounds ahead of is qualification last year and now has new personal bests with these indoor marks in long jump and triple jump. This is his second qualification to indoor nationals, as he made the cut in 2024 with a qualification in triple jump.
Curtis, in her first season at Park, made some noise in her Pirate debut with a 5.85m in the long jump and followed that up with another NAIA qualifying mark in the triple jump at 11.94m. This will be her first appearance at NAIA nationals. The freshman from Shawnee Mission North this past May won the Kansas 6A long jump state title with a mark of 5.94 meters (19'6").
For
Shanai Sweeting, the junior started off 2024-25 off on the right foot with a qualification to the women's 60m hurdles final, running her new personal record in prelims with a 9.21 for 6
th place.
Keano Ferguson ran a 7.01 in the men's 60m prelim and secured a qualifying time for 6
th place.
Pirates lined the top 5 in the men's 1,000m event, starting with Palmer O'Connor in 2
nd place with a 2:30.31. One second behind was
Alexander Caines with a 2:31.31 in 3
rd place and
Tom Kuehnel took 4
th with a 2:32.44.
The women's 800m had similar success for Park with
Destiny Pearson crossing at 2:34.10 for 2
nd place and
Lily Brecheisen taking 4
th with a 2:35.32.
Lukas Mehl had a good opening meet in the men's 5,000m race with 2
nd place in a time of 14:59.81.
Evans was the only Pirate to compete in multiple events at 2024 nationals and took 20
th in the men's triple jump with a mark of 13.87m.
See the full results for the rest of the Pirates Track & Field team below:
Results
#ParkUNation
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Women 60m Hurdles - Prelims
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Men 60m Hurdles - Prelims
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H. Mand, A. Hayden, J. Williams, L. Comarcho |
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D. Pearson, R. Curtis, H. Klamm, F. Klamm
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A. Caines, P. O'Connor, A. Evans, C. Housh |
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