The Little Rock Trojans marked several first-place finishes and honored their senior athletes during the two-day Little Rock Invitational, which concluded on April 18. Both the men’s and women’s teams placed second overall in the annual meet, finishing behind Central Arkansas as they competed for the Governor’s I-40 Showdown trophy.
The invitational began with strong performances on Friday. Senior Brooklyn Marcee broke the meet record in pole vault by clearing 3.85 meters, surpassing the previous mark by 0.10 meters. Other notable victories included senior Takia Palmer winning the women’s 200 meters, freshman Jeremiah Patton securing first place in the men’s 200 meters, and freshman Brianna Brinkley taking top honors in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.
Challenging weather conditions arrived on Saturday with rain, cold temperatures, and strong winds affecting competition times. Despite this, freshman Zach Morin won the men’s 5,000 meters to start off day two. Additional event winners included seniors Falon Short and Ragen Hodge in high jump events; Jordan Smith in the men’s 1,500 meters; junior Matthew Tyeskie in the men’s 110-meter hurdles; freshmen Jeremiah Patton (100 meters) and Colter Maya (400 meters); as well as a first-place finish from the men’s 4×100-meter relay team anchored by senior TaVieon Neal.
Senior Day was also celebrated during this meet with recognition for athletes Cayla Anthony, Carolin Bielert, Ragen Hodge, Brooklyn Marcee, Takia Palmer, Talia Palmer, Jasmine Torres, JaDerrika Welch-Fields, Sutton Manatt, TaVieon Neal, Deshawn Roberts, Falon Short, Jordan Smith and Patrick Young.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling but overall I’m super grateful for everything this journey has had to offer,” Neal said. “This was a pivotal meet for me this season and I can’t wait to see what’s next for both myself and the team.”
Head coach J.P. Behnke acknowledged both favorable weather early on Friday that led to strong results as well as his team’s determination through tougher conditions on Saturday: “It’s always fun to compete in front of our home crowd,” Behnke said. “We had beautiful weather on Friday and saw some great performances… With much cooler temperatures and rain on Saturday… regardless this group competed hard.”
Looking ahead most of Little Rock’s track athletes will have a week off before select distance runners travel to Iowa for competition at Drake Relays scheduled for April 23–24.
