Roth Paces Trojan Men at IWU Invite
MARION, Ind. – Josh Roth turned in his second spectacular outing in as many weeks to highlight Taylor's afternoon at the Indiana Wesleyan Invite on Saturday.
Roth scored TU's lone victory of the day, winning the 3,000 meters by seven seconds with an NAIA A standard time of 8:39.23 for the seventh-best mark in the nation this season entering the weekend. Roth was followed in the race by two other Trojans in the top-five, with Hunter Smith and Ben Byrd taking fourth and fifth.
Taylor hit NAIA standards in three other events, with Matt Sakeuh taking third in the long jump at 6.97 meters, Caleb Anthony ending fourth in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.40 seconds and the 4x800-meter relay squad of Shauntis Lewis, Derek Van Prooyen, Roth and Byrd crossing in second place at 7:59.90 for the sixth-best time in the NAIA.
Lewis also excelled for the Purple and Gold in the 600-meters, crossing in 1:23.61 to claim second place, with Alex Helmuth and Zach Hoekstra taking third and fourth in the 5,000-meters.
Other top efforts for TU included the Anthony, Darryl Robinson, Isaac Cornfield and Sakeuh teaming for fourth out of 19 teams in the 4x400-meter relay, with Sakeuh also ending fifth in the 400-meters and Robinson taking ninth in the 200 and 400-meters.
Taylor will return to action in one week when it hosts the 2019 Crossroads League Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 8 and 9.