Koala Men's Indoor Track Kicks off Season at NC JDL Meet

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Columbia College indoor track and field team competed at the season-opening JDL Kick-Off Classic at the JDL Fast Track in North Carolina on Saturday in the primarly NCAA D-1 and D-2 meet.

On the men's side, the sprinters were led by junior Deshawn Mungo palcing 27th in the 60 meter Hurdles in a time of 9.23 seconds while freshman Alex Smith finished an impressive 7th out of 20 in the 400 meters top race with a time of 48.9 seconds. Sophomore Ashton Pouncie then finished 8th out of 52 in the 400 meters in a time of 49.6 seconds while freshman Meshach Guadeloupe was 30th in 52.9 seconds. Sophomore Corey Liggins was right behind in 53.1 seconds to place 32nd while sophomore Jayden Young was 44th in 55.7 seconds.

In the 60 meter dash, Columbia was led by sophomore Kamron Holman placing 42nd out of 75 in 7.17 seconds while junior Willy Calcano was 45th in 7.2 seconds. Freshman Tijai Hartwell also palced 54th in 7.24 seconds with freshmen Jaiden Gray and Jaden Barnette finishing 60th in 7.4 seconds.

In the 200 meter dash, the Koalas were led by Hartwell placing 28th in 22.7 seconds while Calcano and Holman were 39th in 23 seconds. Liggins finished 44th in 23.2 while Gray was 47th in 23.4.

In the 4x400 meter relay, the Koalas finished in 12th place out of 20 teams in a time of 3:29 and were 6th among non D-1 schools. The relay team consisted of Meshach Guadeloupe, Corey Liggins, Ashton Pouncie and Alex Smith.

In the field events, freshman Nevan Gaither led the way in the High Jump placing 14th out of 22 with a mark of 1.8 meters (5.5 ft) while sophomore Jaylen Bostic led the way in the Long Jump placing 16th out of 48 at 6.6 meters (21 ft) while J. Young was 36th at 6.1 meters.

Finally in the throwing events, Columbia was led by junior Samuel Ah Ping placing 19th out of 47 in the Shot Put at nearly 13.1 meters (42 ft) and 27th in the Weight Throw at 11.5 meters. Freshman Jaden Reed finished behind Ah Ping in the SP placing 29th with a mark of 11.9 meters while junior Jonathan Davis was 35th at 11.2 meters. Davis was also 28th in the WT at 11.3 meters with junior Guruveer Jhaj 30th at 10.47 meters.