Joy Edward throws a shot put at a practice.
In two separate meets at Samford and Florida, the Troy track and field teams performed well, consistently earning top-five finishes.
The Trojans put together a dominant showing in both the women’s shot put and men’s shot put and saw Troy have many strong individual performances.
“We had a great first meet and did what was needed,” said head coach Marc Davis to Troy Athletics. “We had a school record, many personal bests and some big performances by first-year Troy student-athletes.
“The future is bright, we just have to stay the course.”
At the Samford Multi in Birmingham, Alabama, Troy sent Kady Schwietz and Sydney Lockner to compete in the pentathlon.
Schwietz finished in the top four in four events – winning the 800m and finishing second in the shot put and long jump – but a DNF in the 60m hurdles dropped her to 15th overall.
In Gainesville, Florida, the rest of the team showed out against tough competition at the Jimmy Carnes Invitational. The Trojan women earned five top-five finishes, while the men placed six student-athletes in the top-five.
The Trojans crushed their competitors in the shot put – Biniosa Ezukuse, Joy Edward and Abby Grosinske took the top three spots. In the men’s shot put, Altwayne Bedward and Javon Osbourne finished second and third, respectively. Bedward’s 17.4m hurl was good for a personal record and was 0.3m short of Osbourne’s school record.
A school record also fell, with Jonas Koturenka running the 1000m in 2:30.16, topping the previous Troy record by nearly five seconds.
The freshman duo of Haley Wilson and Aaliyah Murphy showed their potential in Gainesville. Wilson finished fourth in the 800m with a time of 2:12.35, finishing behind runners from Florida State, Florida and North Florida.
Murphy placed sixth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.84s and ran the second fastest 300m in program history at 39.88s, finishing 12th.
On the men’s side of things, the Trojans had a plethora of fifth-place finishes. Jack Anderson had a 1.95m jump to take fifth place, and Simphiwe Mashaba had a long jump of 7.07m.
Michael Eady ran the 300m dash in 34.69s to finish fifth as well.
Troy has a little over a week to prepare for the South Alabama Indoor Invitational, which is on Sunday, Feb. 2.
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