St. Jean Speeds Past Steeple Chase Competitors

Kalique+St.+Jean+gets+a+jump+off+the+start+line+in+an+attempt+to+get+ahead+of+his+competition.+

Laura Barrios Bardi

Kalique St. Jean gets a jump off the start line in an attempt to get ahead of his competition.

Hunter Dewall, Contributing Writer

USAO’s track and field team traveled to Wichita, Kanas over the weekend for the Friends University Invite. USAO was one of 36 teams at the meet, and seven student-athletes traveled to compete in five events.  

The meet kicked off on Friday night for as Kalique St. Jean ran the 3,000-meter steeple chase. After a long day of driving, St. Jean had to run seven and a half laps into 15 mph wind. For his first steeple chase race of the year, St. Jean finished in second place running a 10:46:13. 

The next day the rest of the team competed in a multitude of events. To start off the day USAO had three entries in the men’s 100-meter dash. Omario Johnson ran the fastest time for USAO with a performance of 11.07 seconds, securing 31st overall. Tyrike Cunningham ran a personal best for the season and Remario McCarty tied his personal best of the season with less wind aid for both sprinters. All around great showing of steady progression in times for the 100-meter sprinters.  

After the 100-meter, USAO had four entries into the 400-meter sprint. Aarin Simon ran the fastest time for USAO that day with a 49.892 placing fourth in his heat and 21st overall. Simon beat fifth place in his heat by 0.006 seconds making it the narrowest margin of victory in this season so far. Directly after running the 100-meter, Cunningham almost tied his personal best in the 400-meter in lane one. Hunter Dewall and Ely Drover both ran personal bests by more than two seconds each, in the same heat. 

The 800-meters took place later that day, in which St. Jean competed for his second time this weekend. In a very tough heat, St. Jean pulled off a blistering time to put himself 16th place overall. To wrap the meet up, USAO had two entries in the 200-meter sprint. Brayden Keller ran a season best in the 200-meters with little to no wind aid in his run. Dewall ran a personal best as well, but this time with slightly more wind that his teammate. Overall great performance from everyone at the meet, as they were stacked up against DI and DII schools.  

USAO’s track and field team will be back on the track in the Sooner Invite at the University of Oklahoma (OU) the weekend of April 14th-15th. 

 

Hunter Dewall is a first-year Physical Education major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.