Eleven members of Truman State University’s track and field team took home awards Saturday night after the Illinois College Snow Bird Open in Jacksonville, Illinois.
The Snow Bird Open is the track and field team’s first event of the semester and their second of the season. After their previous meet, the Dutch Holiday Preview at Central College in Pella, Iowa, fourteen Bulldogs returned to Truman with medals around their necks, and nine of them donned gold medals. By comparison, eight Bulldogs finished in first place in various events at the Snow Bird Open.
Senior Sam Stewart won his second straight weight throw event after breaking Truman’s school record at the Dutch Holiday Preview. He also took second in the shot put.
Junior Eddie Barrett beat out 66 other runners to win the men’s 200-meter dash. He also won the 4×200 relay alongside sophomore Joseph Niblock and freshmen Carson Lackey and Ike Gholston.
Freshman Cassie Jennings won her first collegiate pole vault, bettering fellow Bulldog sophomore Hannah Sells, who took second place.
Junior Cassie Smestead took home the gold in the shot put and also took fourth in the weight throw. Fellow junior Hannah Oberdiek won the long jump.
The Bulldogs also took home some silver medals — senior Heather Hughes took second in the women’s 200 while Carly Garnett led a pack of three Bulldogs to the top five in the mile. Garnett took second place, sophomore Emily Harl took fourth and freshman Madeline Bostick took fifth in the mile.
The track and field team will be split next weekend as some of the Bulldogs head to the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, on Friday for the Jayhawks Classic while the rest travel back to Central College the next day for the Dutch Athletic Classic.