Sprinters Lead Men's Track & Field at UNC-Asheville Invite

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Columbia College men's track and field team competed at the Div. I and II Bulldog Invitational at UNC-Asheville over the weekend.

Leading the sprinters on Friday evening was the duo of freshman Tristen Patterson and sophomore Bradley Tilby as they each ran a 10.9 second time in the 100m dash to tie for 7th overall out of 47 sprinters. They each tied for 3rd among D-2 sprinters. Also placing was sophomore Willy Calcano in 21st at 11.26 seconds while freshman William Smith was 24th in 11.37 seconds. Freshman Ashton Pouncie finished 30th in 11.45 sec while fellow rookie Ryan Flowers was 36th in 11.6 seconds.

Calcano then led the men in the 200 meters on Saturday finishing 14th overall out of 32 in 22.75 seconds while he was 4th among D-2 sprinters. Tilby then came behind him in 18th place in 23 seconds while freshman Jayden Young was 23rd in 23.6 seconds.

Next up in the 400 meters on Saturday, the Koalas were led by freshman Dominick Young finishing an impressive 3rd place overall out of 35 and first among Div. II in a season-best time of 49.4 seconds. Fellow freshman, T. Patterson then followed behind in 9th place in 50.4 seconds and was 3rd among non D-1 schools. Pouncie then crossed the finish line in 51.8 seconds to place 15th while Flowers was 20th in 52.7 seconds.

The 4x100 relay team also finished 5th and included the team of W. Smith, Patterson, D. Young, and Calcano.

In the field events, the Koalas were led by senior thrower Daylon McDonald as he placed 21st of 45 in the Discus on Saturday with a mark of 36.8 meters (120 ft) and 8th among D-2 schools. Coming in behind him were junior Geo Tobias and sophomore Guruveer Jhaj placing 25th and 26th with marks of 34.8 and 34 meters respectively. Both marks were season-bests and personal records for the both of them.

On Friday in the Hammer Throw, senior Gavin Rice led the Koalas placing 21st out of 37 with a throw of 37.6 meters to finish 8th among D-2 schools while McDonald came in 27th with a mark of 35.5 meters. Jhaj (29.7m), Jonathan Davis (27.5m) and Jarek Asencio (24.1m) also competed in the Hammer throw as well placing 32nd, 34th, and 35th.

In the Shot Put on Friday evening, the Koalas were led by sophomore Sam Ah Ping who placed 25th out of 41 with a throw of 11.6 meters (38 ft) while J. Davis and G. Tobias were 27th and 29th at nearly 11.1 meters. Rice was also 30th at 10.8 meters. Also on Friday in the Long Jump was sophomore Tyler Dixon who placed 20th (7th in D-2) with a jump of 5.8 meters (19 ft) while J. Young was 24th with a mark of 5.4 meters. Dixon also competed in the Triple Jump but ended up fouling out.

The track and field teams will now prepare to head to the AAC conference meet in Johnson City, Tennessee later this week on Thursday and Friday.