CHADRON, Neb. – Two Chadron State College athletes were medal winners Friday during the first day of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Indoor Track and Field Championships at Gunnison, Colorado on Friday.
Sophomore
Shelby Ekwall, a graduate of Southeast High School at Yoder, Wyoming, was the silver medalist in the shot put with a career-best mark of 46 feet, 2 inches, and junior
Chayton Bynes of Chadron earned the bronze medal in the long jump by leaping exactly 23 feet.
Another Chadron State highlight was in the men's 200-meter dash preliminaries, where three Eagles qualified for Saturday's finals. They are
Ryan Clapper, also from Yoder,
Ayden Hartzell of Evanston, Wyoming, and
Esosa Iyengunmwena, a native of Nigeria.
Another CSC sprinter,
Christopher Cormier of Sparks, Nevada, qualified for the 400-meter finals.
In addition,
Courtney Williams, a freshman from Jamaica, has the lead after the first day of the men's heptathlon while placing in the top three in all four of Friday's events. He was first in the high jump after clearing 6-4 ¼, tied for first in the long jump at 22-1 ¾, was second in the 60-meter dash in 6.94 seconds and third in the shot put with a toss of 40-1 ½.
The final three heptathlon events—the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run—will help open Saturday's events at the conference meet. There are 18 men in the grueling competition this year, considerably more than usual.
In the team standings after one day, the Chadron State men are 10th of 15 teams with six points and 5 of 17 events scored. The CSC women are tied for ninth with eight points, with 6 of 17 events scored.
The action will resume on Sunday, with the final heptathlon events starting at 10 a.m., the initial field events beginning at 10:30 a.m., and the first events on the track starting at 12 p.m.
