After coming close multiple times throughout the years, Matt Wilson finally broke Ian Francisco’s weight throw record of 14.89m. Wilson broke the record in each of his final three throws at the Blue-White open hosted by Indiana State. His first throw of the finals, a toss of 15.14m (49-8.0) gave him the record. This throw also gave him a seventh place finish in an incredibly strong field of throwers, giving Wesleyan four points.
The star of the day was Matt Wilson, who finally got over the 15 meter hump in the weight throw,” said Head Coach Sol Stephens. “To come into a meet with some legitimate throwers and make the finals in both the shot put and weight throw is impressive, and will help him continue to develop for the conference meet. It was a good race by Tanner Hayes in both of his races today, in a short time of a double at that. This will be great for his confidence, he can see that all the little things he’s doing are starting to add up.”
Wilson also made the finals and scored three points in the shot put, coming in eighth with a distance of 14.42m (47-4.0). Placing in two sprinting events was Arthur Powell IV, who took seventh in both the 60m (7.21) and 200m (23.98) dashes. Tanner Hayes ran a new indoor mile PR of 4:40.33, good for sixth place. Hayes also ran a PR in the 3000m, coming in fourth with a time of 9:22.41. Ashton Weaver used a strong time of 8.90 in the prelims of the 60m hurdles to qualify for the finals, where he would score a point and take eighth. Despite not qualifying for the finals, Elijah Moss ran well in the sprints, coming in 12th in the 60m (7.31), and ninth in the 200m (24.40).
“It was good to see Arthur make the finals in the 60. He knows what needs to be fixed and how to fix it, now it’s just a matter of going out and getting it done. Just like Arthur, it’s good to see Ashton Weaver make the finals in the hurdles. He didn’t run the cleanest race in the prelims, even though he made the finals. He fell out of the blocks in the finals so today isn’t really a true tell of what we’ve been working on this week. Now we just need to recover and regroup to do what we need to do to get better and focused for the rest of the season.”
The Panthers have a quick turnaround as they head to Bloomington, Indiana next week for Hoosier Hills, hosted by Indiana University. The meet will take place on Friday, February 10th.
