Senior Sprinter/Hurdler Lendale Franklin Competing in a Race @lendalefranklin1 on Instagram
After placing third at the CCAC Indoor Championships, the Cougars continued to perform at the highest level. The Cougars took on the challenge of attending the Grand Valley State University (Mich.) track meet, where they would be competing with other schools from NCAA Division I, II, and III programs.
The Cougars didn’t bring their entire squad to this meet, but brought enough guys to the meet in order to compete.
During the Distance Medley Relay, we saw the distance team hit the NAIA ‘B’ Standard. The relay team finished at 14th place, breaking the program record with a time of 10:09.36. This was the second-best time for an NAIA school, mixed with other programs other than NAIA.
The Distance Medley Relay team consisted of junior Rohindeep Bhattel, junior Charlie Zufan, senior Isaac Sytsma, and senior Jonathan Jacobo.
In other news, the weekly CCAC awards were announced earlier last week and the track teammates who were honored are none other than senior sprinter/hurdler Lendale Franklin and senior jumper Ronnie Foster.
Franklin was named CCAC Track Athlete of the Week. This was his first time earning the honour in the 2024-25 season.
Foster was named CCAC Field Athlete of the Week in back to back weeks, making this the third time this season that he has won the award.
Franklin showed out at the GVSU meet as he also hit the NAIA ‘B’ Standard. He hit the standard in the preliminaries of the 60m Hurdles, running at 8.13 seconds, the third fastest time in team history.
Franklin proceeded to finish the 60m Hurdles finals in 8.21 seconds, placing him eighth overall.
While Foster was at the GVSU meet, he killed it at the Triple Jump. Finishing in second place, Foster recorded the second-best jump in team history, jumping for a distance of 13.88m (meters).
Foster also took part in the Long Jump and logged a distance of 6.74m, placing him in fifth place and tying for the ninth-best all time score at Saint Xavier.
Junior sprinter, Sean Harris, was a part of a separate 200m race and finished at 21.86 seconds, recording the second-fastest time in team history and placing at 11th overall.
Harris also took part in the 60m Hurdles and completed the event with a time of 8.36 seconds, placing at fourth.
Junior sprinter, Myles Money, entered the 400m Early Section and raced well, he finished with a time of 51.30 seconds which resulted in a 10th place draw.
Sophomore sprinter, Charles Campbell, also competed in the 200m and finished with a time of 22.61 seconds, placing 13th overall.
Besides partaking in the Distance Medley Relay, Zufan competed in the 200m Early Section and a different 400m race. During the Early Section, Zufan finished in sixth place with a time of 22.67 seconds. Then for the 400m, he ran the third-quickest time in program history, finishing in 49.57 seconds.
Senior thrower, Ayobami Arokoyo, competed in Shot Put and threw for a distance of 14.72m, placing eighth overall.
During the 3000m event, senior distance runner, Luke Snedden, earned himself a new PR (personal record) as he finished the race at a time of 8:56.58. This placed him 33rd overall out of 90 runners in the event as he was also the only NAIA competitor in the 3000m.
At the 4×400 Relay event, a team that consisted of Foster, Money, Zufan, and Sytsma competed in the event and finished with a time of 3:21.88. They ran the second-fastest time in team history and their time placed them fourth overall.
Nine members of SXU’s track squad will head down to Gainesville, Fla to represent SXU at the NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Championships. The National Championship will take place from Thursday Feb. 27 to Saturday Mar. 1.