Two school records broken, track & field student-athletes compete at last chance meets

OLIVET, Mich. – Over the last eight days, the Olivet College track and field program has sent student-athletes to compete at last chance meets in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.

For the Olivet women, senior Gabby Jolliff participated in the pole vault at Grand Valley, Oakland and Augustana. At Grand Valley, she broke her the school outdoor record with a clearance of 11 feet, 6-1/4 inches. The next day at Oakland, Jolliff broke her own record, clearing the bar at 11 feet, 8 inches. At Augustana, she got over the bar at the first three heights but missed on each of three attempts at 11 feet, 10-1/2 inches.

In addition, senior Ashley Santo competed in the discus throw at Grand Valley and Oakland. She was not able to post a personal best at either meet.

For the Comet men, senior Byron Pearce and sophomore David Sinkler competed at the Grand Valley State University Last Chance Meet May 9 and Oakland University Last Chance Meet May 11. Neither was able to improve on their personal best marks in either the discus throw or hammer throw.

Junior Chris Davis ran in the 1,500-meter run at the Baldwin Wallace (Ohio) University / Harrison Dillard Twilight Meet May 12. He had a successful race, as he broke the school record with a time of 3:53.18.

Senior Jordon Brown also participated in the Harrison Dillard Twilight Meet as well as today at the Augustana (Ill.) College Midwest Twilight Meet. His goal was to lower his time in both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes. Unfortunately, he was not able to do that. At BW, Brown had times of 21.87 seconds in the 200 and 48.04 seconds in the 400. He did place first of 29 runners in the 400 at Augustana, with a time of 47.93 seconds. Brown also failed to improve his 200-meter time, as he completed the race in 21.91 seconds, a 1/2 second slower than his school record time.

Brown has most likely punched his ticket in the 400-meter dash at the 2023 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships next Thursday-Saturday, May 25-27, at the Polisseni Track & Field Complex in Rochester, New York. Entering today's final last chance meets, his best time in the 400-meter dash, 47.30 seconds, was tied for 13th on the NCAA Division III Performance List. The top 22 times will advance to the championships. The NCAA will announce the field for the championships tomorrow evening.