De Jong, Knowles Hit A-Standard at Home Invite
UPLAND, Ind. – On a cold and windy early spring Saturday at the George Glass Track and Field Complex, the Taylor men added two more NAIA National Qualifiers to their outdoor list. Senior Mitch De Jong and junior Damon Knowles surpassed A-standard in the javelin throw and pole vault, punching their tickets to the NAIA Outdoor National Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama later this season.
Mitch De Jong secured a dominant first-place finish in the javelin throw, crushing the field by 17-meters. The senior set a five-meter PR as he launched the javelin an impressive 60.64-meters. De Jong missed the TU school record by a mere two-centimeters, but moved to No. 2 on the Taylor top-10 list.
In the pole vault, Damon Knowles claimed second place with a vault of 4.80-meters. Teammates Isaac Brown and Caleb Ranzau finished fifth and eighth place, respectively. Brown vaulted 4.40-meters while Ranzau cleared 3.95-meters.
The field athletes continued to shine as Liam Hesting grabbed second place in the shot put and discus throw. Hesting tossed the shot put 14.98-meters and logged a mark of 45.11-meters in the discus throw. Hesting also finished third in the hammer throw, recording a throw of 53.74-meters. In the high jump, sophomore Jake Thompson added a third-place finish, clearing a height of 1.90-meters.
Matthew Sakeuh cruised to a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles. Sakeuh recorded a time of 14.99. Cole Whitehead and Sakeuh grabbed third and fourth place in the 400-meter dash. Whitehead clocked a time of 51.31 and Sakeuh crossed with a time of 51.33.
In the mid-distance events, Connor White ended third in the 1,500-meters. White logged a time of 4:03.45, while teammate Ben Eiffert clocked 4:04.42 for fourth place. In the 800-meters, Colton White finished fourth in 1:59.38 and Nathan Brainer claimed sixth place in 2:00.34.
The TU 4x400-meter relay team of Matthew Sakeuh, Cole Whitehead, Braden Bixler and Nate Conkel closed out the 2022 George Glass Invitational with a second-place finish and a time of 3:25.60.
The Trojans will turn their attention to the Indiana Tech Invitational next Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
