Tops End Regular Season with 17 Top-10 Finishes

Friday, April 30

Lexington, Ky.

Western Kentucky University

Kentucky Invitational

5/1/2021 6:23:00 PM | Track & Field

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – WKU Track & Field is headed home from the Kentucky Invitational with 17 top-10 finishes on the weekend. The performances included nine top-five finishes across eight different events. This was WKU's final regular season meet ahead of the Conference USA Championships in two weeks.

"I think we had a really good tune up for the championships in a few weeks," said Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Brent Chumbley. "Competing the week of finals can be difficult, but our team handled it really well."

One of the highlights of the weekend was a personal best pole vault jump by Devon Montgomery. He bested his previous mark and now owns the third and fourth best outdoor male pole vault heights in school history, as he cleared 4.73 meters (15' 6.75") on Friday afternoon. He is just behind the school record of 16' 0.5" held by Henry Wadsworth (1965) and the second-best mark of 15' 7", held by Bob Sandidge (1976).

Senior Savannah Heckman had a stellar performance in the 3,000-meter after running a 9:56.94. It's the program's best female outdoor time in the event since at least 2008. She finished fourth in the race as teammates Rory O'Connor and Lucy Rutherford finished in sixth and eighth, respectively, behind her.

"Savannah going under 10 really put the stamp on her as one of the top runners in conference, which is something she has been striving for in the past 3-4 months," said assistant coach Brooks LeCompte. "Dealing with constant injuries in the fall, it's been a joy to see her goals come to fruition."

Junior sprinter Steven Simmons qualified for the 100-meter finals after finishing sixth through the preliminary races out of 25 competitors. He recorded a personal best of 10.74, which moves him closer to the top 10 in C-USA. He finished eighth in the final event with a 10.90.

Marlowe Mosley added two top-five finishes for the Tops with a fifth place in the 200 and fourth place in the 400. The times push him to seventh in C-USA in the 200 and fifth in the 400. Freshman Jonathan Allen also recorded a personal best in the 200 with a time of 21.28. He's just behind Mosley in the league.

"Friday was our better day as we had season bests across the board for everyone in our group," said assistant coach Tosha Ansley. "Starting off, the freshman. Jonathan Allen, he had a PR in the 200. He came in and he's really just starting to develop and come into his own. He was was the only true freshman that finished in the top eight this weekend in the 200. As far as Marlowe, he finished fourth in the 200. Again, he was on the inside lane and if we could get him to an outside lane, or middle lane, it would be great. He ran a PR as well, 21.21, in the 200 so that was awesome. We had Steven Simmons with a season best in the 100 and season best in the 200. In his situation, he's been battling some things here and there with injuries, but he's been getting better as we've gone along. He's starting to come into his own. I'm really expecting some good development from them next year."

"As we go into conference in the next few weeks, we want to train, sharpen up and try and do the best we can," added Ansley. "It was great to have warm weather because the sprinters are always going to perform better when it's warmer. I hope we try to stay as healthy as possible until we get through the end of the season."

Distance runner Clint Sherman continued his PR momentum with bests in the 1500 and 3000. His new 1,500-meter time of 3:50.19 moves him into sixth in the conference in the event. He finished ninth in the 1500 and second in the 3k. Rutherford also added a PR in the steeplechase, finishing second.

"Lucy had a massive PR in the steeplechase and she knows there's a ton of room to grow and improve once she figures out the technical side to the event," LeCompte said on the freshman.

"This being our last meet before conference, most of my group wanted to work on some events that aren't primary to their fitness to see how they handle racing tough competition in those events," added LeCompte on his group. "We are sharpening up for conference and didn't want to overextend ourselves here. Not everything went exactly as planned, which is normal, but for the most part we had the kind of performances we were hoping for… Overall, it was a great meet and now we will focus these next two weeks for C-USAs."

Multiple throwers recorded PRs at the Kentucky Invite. Kaison Barton placed fourth in the shot put with a PR of 16.60 meters. Freshman Jake Robinson and junior Brett Brannon also logged personal bests in the discus.

"Devon for pole vault and Kaison for throws stand out in my groups with great PRs," added Chumbley. "All of the throwers and jumpers had good meets and the next two weeks will have us primed for the Championships."

WKU will next compete at the Conference USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on May 13-16 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Women's Results
1500m
17^th – Savannah Heckman – 4:41.00 (unofficial)
3000m
4^th – Savannah Heckman – 9:56.94*
6^th – Rory O'Connor – 10:19.79
8^th – Lucy Rutherford – 10:38.68
23^rd – Maddy Hurt – 11:18.76
24^th – Carley Maskos – 11:19.70*
3000m Steeplechase
2^nd – Lucy Rutherford – 11:33.00*
3^rd – Maddy Hurt – 12:03.00
Pole Vault
11^th – Grace Turner – 3.67m (12' 0.5")
16^th – Nikki Ogorek – 3.32m (10' 10.75")
Hammer Throw
25^th – Mary Claire Redden – 37.09m (121' 8")
Javelin
13^th – Audrey Griffin – 18.34m (60' 2")

Men's Results
100m
6^th through prelims – Steven Simmons – 10.74*
8^th after finals – Steven Simmons – 10.90
200m
5^th – Marlowe Mosley – 21.21*
7^th – Jonathan Allen – 21.28*
19^th – Steven Simmons – 21.86*
400m
4^th – Marlowe Mosley – 47.50
800m
6^th – Casey Buchanan – 1:53.08*
1500m
9^th – Clint Sherman – 3:50.19*
30^th – Will Perrone – 4:08.96*
3000m
2^nd – Clint Sherman – 8:32.22*
9^th – Will Perrone – 8:56.15*
16^th – Miles Huff – 9:15.75
4x100-meter relay
4^th – Simmons, Mosley, Allen, Hamlin – 41.45
Pole Vault
5^th – Devon Montgomery – 4.73m (15' 6.75")* - 3^rd in WKU Male Outdoor history
Hammer Throw
8^th – John Elam – 51.69m (169' 7")
9^th – Brett Brannon – 51.27m (168' 2")
18^th – Jake Robinson – 43.68m (140')
Discus
21^st – Kaison Barton – 40.64m (133' 4")
22^nd – Jake Robinson – 40.61m (133' 3")*
25^th – Brett Brannon – 37.90m (124' 4")*
Shot Put
4^th – Kaison Barton – 16.60m (54' 5.5")*

*denotes DI Collegiate PR