MOREHEAD, Ky. – It boils down to semantics, but no matter how you slice it, freshman
Kalynn Pease is having one of the greatest seasons in Morehead State track and field history.
One week after setting three school records and earning an unprecedented three Ohio Valley Conference Athlete of the Week honors, Pease did it again by recording a leap of 20'05"/6.22m to win the Raleigh Relays' long jump and notch a time of 11.67 in the 100-meter dash. Both are technically school records. However, because of an unallowable aiding from the wind, both marks go down as "all-conditions' bests."
In Saturday's long jump, held at North Carolina State's Paul Derr Track Facility in Raleigh, N.C., she beat 12 athletes from "power four" schools, plus 50 others, to obliterate the mark she set only a week ago by 6.75 inches and record the now 13th-best leap in Division I. She sits tied with three others. That distance all but guarantees that she will qualify for the NCAA East Regional Championship, which will be held at the end of May at the University of Kentucky. The top 48 jumpers in the Eastern United States will earn invitations to the regionals. Last year, 20'05" would have tied for 25th among the qualifiers.
The wind mark of 2.9 meters per second exceeded the allowable limit of 2.0 m/s, which prevents it from being recorded as an official record.
The same was true of her 100m contest that took place on Friday. The wind during her race registered 3.4 m/s. She finished 11th in the race.
Despite the lack of official recognition, Pease believes she has more in her.
"I was honestly not satisfied with how I did because there were too many things that went wrong within the jumping and racing. I have a lot to improve on still," she said. "I am grateful to get the competition I had, and I can't wait to compete against more.
"At the end of the day what I did was the expectation, not above it," she continued. "Winning long jump was kind of shocking for me because I don't know what I came in (seeded), but I don't think I was 'supposed to be' in the finals. But that could have simply been me having a good jump day and everyone else having a bad jump day.
"There's still so much work to put in and it's only the beginning of the season, so there is still so much more to grow and give," she concluded.
Ironically, the last time MSU competed at the Raleigh Relays, it also set a school record. Aaron Weir recorded a 3:45.34 in 1,500-meter run in 2019 to better the then-school-best mark.
Competing on a large stage with multiple elite-level competitors did not phase Pease.
"Being the nation's best doesn't really matter at the end of the day because we all still have to run and compete. Anyone could go up or down. (All of the competitors) are just a name and number in the end and Morehead (State) is getting up there (into that group) now," she said.
Although Pease's performance dominated MSU's headlines, every Eagle athlete who competed in Raleigh excelled.
"Another solid meet from the sprints and jumps group on both fronts," said MSU sprints and jumps coach
Rob Springfield. "The group at N.C. State set several 'pb's' and 'sb's'.
Kalynn Pease leading the way with an 'all-condition's best' in the 100m (11.67) and long jump (6.22m). Kyle also set a new 'pb' of 10.68 in the 100m and 22.28 in the 200m.
Sam Afari,
Maryah Counts and
Kennedi Alford also represented the Eags well in Raleigh!"
Freshman
Kennedi Alford registered a 12.05 to place 45th in the 100m. She actually tied with Brown's Anya Anderson, but Anderson's time of 12.045 bested Alford's 12.050, when broken down into the thousandths of a second. There were 122 entries in the 100m.
Also on Friday, sophomore
Maryah Counts finished 83rd overall (82nd collegiately) in 57.55, just nine-hundredths of a second off her "pr". Like Alford, Counts crossed the line in exact same time as Coppin State's Benidicta Kwartemaa, but Kwartema got the edge in the end 57.543 to 57.547. There were a total of 129 runners in the field. Maya Collins of Duke notched the winning time with a wind-legal 11.29.
On the men's side, freshmen
Sam Afari and
Kyle Stepteau also were in action on Friday. Stepteau finished in a four-way tie in the 100m in 10.68, but he tied with George Mason's Denver Shields for the lowest ranking of the quartet with a 10.679. The other two runners, North Carolina Wesleyan's Jamel Corey and N.C. State's Tyson Adams both crossed the line in 10.678. Stepteau tied for 48th overall and 44th collegiately. The 10.679 is the fourth-fastest mark ever at MSU and his "pr". Coppin State's Solomon Hammond won the event in a wind-aided time of 10.21. There were 102 runners in the race.
Afari finished in 53rd overall and 51st collegiately in the 400-meter dash and unlike most of the others, he did not have to have his time broken down into the thousandth of a second. He crossed the line in 48.51, which is his "pr" and the third-fastest time in school history. The University of the Cumberlands' Tavon Davis won the race in 45.75. There was a total of 127 runners in the event.
Besides the long jump, the 200-meter dash was the only other event in which the Eagles were in action on Saturday. Afari followed up his 400m "pr" with another after crossing the line in 21.63 to place 40th overall. He too, finished in a tie. Kent State's Micah Coates and Appalachian State's Dezmone Starks both were clocked in 21.621 to claim 38th. Afari's wind-legal time was 21.627, the third best in MSU history.
Stepteau finished in 71st overall and 69th collegiately in 22.28. It was his "pr" by one-hundredth of a second. There were 106 entrants in the race, which was won by North Carolina A&T's Jordan Ware in 20.62.
Alford also was entered in the women's 200m but did not run.
The remainder of the Blue and Gold were in Louisville, Ky., at the Jim Vargo Invitational. The Saturday meet took place at the Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.
Although the results were not as gaudy as those at N.C. State, there were several impressive performances.
Junior
Ginger Hayden in the long jump and triple jump, graduate student
Aidan Massey and sophomore
Meredith Campbell in the 5,000-meter run, senior
Kaylyn Holman in the 800-meter run, junior
Erin Pease in the javelin, senior
Abby Taylor and junior
Adi Fuller in the steeplechase, and freshman
Luke Kelly in the 200m all led the way with top-10 finishes.
"This meet was another meet of openers. Many people raced their primary events so it's good to see where they are at in those," said MSU head coach
Clay Dixon. "Adi (Fuller) and Abby (Taylor) had decent openers in the steeple. There is a big learning curve there. Just the more you do it, the better (you get)."
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