The Edward Waters men’s track & field team took second placed in their final appearance at the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hahnville High School on Friday and Saturday.
For the Tigers, it is their highest finish at the GCAC Championships, since winning the title in 2019.
The Purple & Orange finished the two-day event with 152.5 points, finishing ahead of Philander Smith who had 82 points. Dillard pulled off the championship double, matching their women’s overall title with a men’s overall title with 286.5 points.
Highlights for the Tigers include Aaron Puryear, Jr’s gold medal performance in the Men’s 110m Hurdles, finishing just one second ahead of teammate Jourdan Bell for the title. Puryear, Jr. crossed the finish line at 15.75s, while bell was just slightly behind at 15.76s.
Bell, an NAIA National Championships qualifier was able to take gold in the Men’s 400m at 54.23s, while Puryear, Jr. took bronze at 1:00.27.
The EWU Men’s 4x400m Relay team of Jourdan Bell, Aaron Puryear, Jr., Jaquan McCants, and Jamal Bouie took the championship of that event, finishing in a time of 3:28.05s. The Men’s 4x100m Relay sauad of Andrew Powers, Kody Gibbs, Tito Bethel, and Jamal Bouie finished second in that event at 42.77s.
Freshman Kody Gibbs placed third in the Men’s 200m at 23.18s, while senior J’Von Keene took fourth at 23.22s.
In the field events, freshman Taleo Bethel finished tied for third at 1.73m in the Men’s High Jump. Bethel also finished second in the Men’s Long Jump at 6.21m and second in the Men’s Triple Jump at 12.91m.
Freshman Van Franklin took second in the Discus (34.93m), third in the Shot Put (10.99m), and third in the Hammer (24.96m).
A freshman Tiger trio placed second, third, and fourth in the Men’s Javelin event. Jordan Matthews placed second at 36.30m, Ny’Kai Evelyn took third, at 33.83m, and Taleo Bethel took fourth place honors at 33.74m.
The Tigers will next head across town to UNF for the three-day UNF Invitational starting on Thursday, April 28th.
Original source can be found here.
