February 11, 2018

Trojans Take Second at Crossroads League Championships

Results | Photo Gallery | Crossroads League Championship Central

MARION, Ind. – A strong performance on the final day of the first-ever Crossroads League Indoor Track and Field Championships propelled the Taylor men's track and field team to a second place finish on Saturday.

Taylor collected a pair of victories on Saturday with sophomore Caleb Anthony sprinting to a win in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best NAIA A standard time of 8.11.

Ben Byrd was also a winner for the Purple and Gold as the junior raced to a victory with an NAIA B standard time of 4:21.41 in the mile run. The Trojans tallied a total of 17 points in the mile run as freshman Daniel Gerber added a third place finish at 4:25.24 while Andrew Runion added to the scoring with an eight place finish at 4:33.40.

Sophomore Drew LeFever added a sixth place finish in the shot put with an NAIA B standard mark of 15.21 meters.

Freshman Marcus Gross added to the TU success in the field events with a fourth place finish in the triple jump after a fourth place finish with a mark of 12.63 meters. Gross added a fourth place finish in the high jump as well with a mark of 1.93 meters while fellow freshman Adam Nichols tallied three points with a sixth place finish in the high jump.

The Trojans got nine points from the sophomore sprint duo of Heelak Lee and Coty Willis in the 60-meter dash. Lee clocked a time of 7.00 to finish in third place while Willis crossed at 7.06 to finish in sixth place.

Sophomore Hunter Smith collected eight points for TU with a second place finish in the 3,000-meters with a time of 8:54.11. Senior Jonathan Taylor added a seventh place finish in the same race with a time of 9:07.62.

A pair of Trojans scored in the 800-meters as well with sophomore Shauntis Lewis posting a mark of 1:57.45 to tally a third place finish while Joey Ferguson added an eighth place finish with a time of 2:01.54.

The Trojans entered the final day of action on Saturday in third place, behind both Bethel and Indiana Wesleyan. The Trojans were able to surpass Bethel while Indiana Wesleyan pulled away for the Crossroads League title. The Wildcats tallied 151 points followed by Taylor at 128.5, Bethel at 126.5, and Marian at 110.

In total, 11 different Trojans earned All-Crossroads League honors by finishing in the top three of their respective events. Alec DeVries, Shauntis Lewis, and Ben Byrd collected All-Crossroads League honors in a pair of events.

The TU team collected four victories over the weekend with the TU distance medley relay quartet of DeVries, Darryl Robinson, Lewis, and Byrd racing to a win along with Byrd in the mile, Beamish in the 5,000-meters, and Anthony in the 60-meter hurdles.

The Trojans will compete one more time prior to the NAIA Indoor National Championships when Taylor travels to the Findlay All-Comers in Findlay, Ohio next Friday.