WAYNE, Neb. -- January 16, 2021 -- Led by double winner
Naishaun Jernigan, the Chadron State College track and field team got the 2021 season off the an encouraging start Saturday at Wayne State's Wildcat Invitational Indoor Meet. Two South Dakota teams, Augustana and Sioux Falls, also competed.
A sophomore from Springfield, Massachusetts, Jernigan won both the long and triple jumps with marks that are provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.
His long jump mark of 23 feet, 8 inches is a personal best and it won the event by nearly two feet. He went 48-4 in the triple jump to capture it by 3 feet, 8 inches.
Jernigan's career-best in the triple jump is 49-3, which he hit while claiming the silver medal at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Indoor Championships and qualifying for nationals last February.
Chadron State also had two other event winners.
Brodie Roden, a junior from Riverton, Wyoming, won the 60-meter dash with a career-best time of 6.90 seconds and sophomore
Shane Collins of Bison, South Dakota, won the shot put with a throw of 50-4 ¾.
CSC entries also placed second in both of the latter events. Sophomore
Osvaldo Cano was the runner-up in the 60 in 7.14 seconds and freshman
Reid Spady placed second in the shot put at 44-10 ¼. Both are graduates of Garden County High School at Oshkosh, Nebraska.
Two more CSC freshmen, Parker Gosner of Windsor, Colorado, and Dan Reynolds of Granby, Colorado, also placed in the shot put and Reynolds also was fifth in the weight throw.
Besides his victory in the shot, Collins was fourth in the 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 51-5 ¾, his career-best.
Pete Brown of Oxford, Nebraska, was second for the Eagles in the pole vault and third in the 60-meter high hurdles.
Other placings by the CSC men saw
Joss Linse of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, finish third in the triple jump; Ismael DePaullite of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, and Joe Dumsa of Sandy, Utah, place fifth and sixth in the long jump; Dumsa and
Alec Penfield of Lusk Wyoming, tie for fifth in the high jump; and
Dylan Soule of Polk, Nebraska, take third in the pole vault and sixth in the hurdles.
Freshman Hannah Christie of Alpine, Wyoming, placed in two women's events. She was third in the high jump while clearing 5-2 ¼ and fourth in the 400 meters.
Other placewinners for the Eagles women included Kristi Hill of Big Springs, Nebraska, second in the pole vault;
Carlie Collier of Thedford, Nebraska, third in the 60 dash;
Miranda Gilkey of Lusk, Wyoming, fourth in the high jump; and
Courtney Smith of Rock Springs, Wyoming, fifth in the shot put.
Chadron State Coach
Riley Northrup said he was pleased with how the Eagles performed.
"It was really nice to see them competing again," Northrup noted. "We hadn't been able to do that since the the indoor season ended 10 ½ months ago because of the COVID.
We also had a long break between the end of the fall semester in November and when we got back together about 10 days ago.
"We're going to have good team and we'll have more placing and better marks as the season progresses," the coach added.
The Eagles will enter the Myrle Hanson Open Meet at Black Hills State in Spearfish on Friday and Saturday, Jan.22 and 23.
