Last week, the Truman State University track teams found success at the Snowbird Classic.
On Saturday, Jan. 25, the men’s and women’s track teams hit the road to compete in the Snowbird Classic in Jacksonville, Illinois, the home of Illinois College.
The men’s team relied on its usual standouts: thrower Bobby Campbell and jumper Brandon Hackamack. Campbell won another gold medal in the weight throw with a throw of 58’ 5”, which was 5’ 3” further than the next closest competitor. Hackamack took first in the triple jump with a season best jump of 45’ 8” and took second in the long jump with a leap of 21’. This was Hackamack’s third longest jump of his career as a Bulldog. Jumper Blake Laird also captured his first gold medal in the pole vault this season with a jump of 13’ 1”. His first jump tied him for the lead in the event and proved to be enough to hold onto the spot after Laird was unable to clear the next height.
The women’s team had one of its best outings of its young season, winning eight different events throughout the meet. Among the women’s top performers was jumper Hannah Sells who took first in the pole vault. Sells beat her teammate jumper Ashleigh Sharkey, who took second place by over 2”. The women’s team owned the podium in a loaded 800-meter run. The Bulldogs took the top three spots in the event and four of the top five spots. Placing first was mid-distance runner Alayna Pipkin, followed just milliseconds later by mid-distance runner Shannon Jones and distance runner Carly Garnett. The women’s team also managed to claim gold in both the 4×200 meter relay and the 4×400 meter relay. In the 4×200 meter relay, sprinter Hally Blackwell, hurdler/jumper Grace Feeney, sprinter Brianna Barton and Pipkin topped the podium and in the 4×400 meter relay Blackwell, Feeney and Pipkin were joined by Sofia Oxendale to round out their second gold medal winning relay of the day.
Blackwell said she believes this year’s team has started off the season just the way it wanted to. After winning the Dutch Athletic Classic and taking first in eight events over the weekend, Blackwell said that this team is focused on adding up points.
“Our team looks super strong this year,” Blackwell said. “I’m very excited about where we’re heading and how we are competing so far. We just all made sure we got in placing position so that we could get points and it added up pretty quickly.”
The women’s and men’s teams will continue their season at the Bearcat Invitational on Feb. 7, hosted by Northwest Missouri State University.