CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Track & Field hosted the home opener this season on Saturday, January 14th, 2023. 
 
Two Redhawks set personal records in their respective events. 
 
Clara Billings set her Southeast personal best in the Pole Vault achieving a 12-03.50 (3.75m) mark.
 
Colin Beers set a new PR in the Men's Pole vault with a 15-05.75 (4.72m) jump.
 
Field events got under way at 12:00 p.m. with the women's pole vault resulting in Redhawks dominance. Three athletes placed in the top five in the event.
 
Clara Billing, Skylar Prescott and Natalie Miner finished first, second, and fifth respectively.
 
Billing got the Redhawks off to a hot start, the freshman set Southeast personal-best with a 12-03.50 (3.75m) jump to take home first place. Skylar Prescott (So.) finished right behind her with a 10-04 (3.15m).
 
For the men's pole vault event, the Redhawks had 3 athletes compete and all three finished top 3. Redhawks had beaten out William's Baptist in this event for first.
 
Colin Beers a freshman set a new personal record of 15-05.75 (4.72m) to lead the way, Sullivan Gleason recorded 15-00.00 (4.57m), and lastly Issac Readnour 13-05.25 (4.10m)
 
Women's weight throw began at 1:00 p.m. and three competed in this event including William's Baptist, Southern Arkansas, and Southeast MIssouri State. SEMO swept the top three in this event.
 
Mackenzie Williams, Piper Klinger, and Megan Deimeke placed first, second, and third in the event.
 
Williams achieved a 56-08 (17.27m) mark. The Missouri native was pushed by her teammate Klinger, who threw for 56-07.50 (17.26m) for a close second place. 
 
Deimeke went for 55-09.00 (16.99m) for the third best overall, the last Redhawk to compete was Bailie Hux (Fr.) who finished 7th with 47-06.50 (14.49m).
 
The men's weight throwing event started after the women's weight throwing event where four schools competed where SEMO dominated the competition as six Redhawks competed.  Four SEMO athletes would finish top 5 in this event. 
 
 
Leading the way for SEMO, Logan Blomquist scored 72-04.50 (22.06m) to top all, second would be Parker Feuerborn 67-09.75 (20.67m), fourth Dylan Clark 62-06.50 (19.06m), in fifth place Marshall Swadley with a score of 57-09.50 (17.61m). 
 
Other SEMO athletes included Clay Alewelt scoring 53-09.75 (16.40m) and lastly Quinton Maxwell 47-03.50 (14.41m). 
 
In the Women's 55-meter hurdles preliminaries the Redhawks had 8 athletes competing and had two athletes that made the finals, that being Kaitlyn McGinnitey and Clara Billing.
 
For the Women's 55-meter hurdle finals, the Freshman Clara Billing took home the gold medal with a run of 8.41 and Kaitlyn McGinnitey ran for a time of 8.68 which earned her a third-place finish. 
 
For the men's 55 meter hurdles the Redhawks had two athletes make it past the preliminaries with Issac Readnour and Shea Degraaf making it out of the 8 finalists. 
 
In the Men's 55-meter hurdle finals, Issac Readnour was the lone athlete to place. He finished in sixth with a time of 8.12. 
 
In the Women's 55 Meter Dash 7 schools competed in the preliminaries. Out of the 8 finalists four SEMO athletes qualified. The four athletes that qualified are Breanna Miles, Daja Gordon, Serena Williams, and Leanza Dwaah. 
 
In the final round of the Women's 55-meter Dash Breanna Miles placed first with a time of 7.15 just beating Janay Chapman of UT Martin who ran a time of 7.19.
 
Three other Redhawks made the finals round with Leanza Dwaah placing fourth with a time of 7.32, Daja Gordon placing sixth with a time of 7.35 and Serena Williams placing eighth with a time of 7.47.
 
The lone Redhawk to compete in the Men's 55-meter dash finals was Brock Wood. 
 
In the Women's Long Jump started Kendal Holweg, Kaitlyn McGinnitey, and Todjai Ross placed in the top five.
 
Holweg finished with the bronze medal with a jump of 17-10.25 (5.44m), in fourth place McGinnitey finished with a 17-08.75 (5.40m) jump, and fifth place Todjai Ross 17-07.00 (5.36m). 
 
Two other SEMO athletes competed in this event with Clara Potter 15-10.50 (4.84m) and Anna Thomason 17-02.75 (5.25m). 
 
In the Men's Shot Put the Redhawks had 4 athletes in the top 8 with Marshall Swadley placing second with a throw of 53-05.00 (16.28m), Dylan Clark had a throw of 50-08.00 (15.44m) which earned him a fourth-place finish, and Clay Alewelt came away with a fifth-place finish with a throw of 50-04.50 (15.35m) and Quinton Maxwell threw for 49-09.00 (15.15m) which earned him a seventh place finish.
 
The Redhawks had four athletes compete in the Men's one mile run with Justin Splitt placing first and Noah Little placing third. Their times were 4: 22.06 and 4: 29.00.
 
The Women's High Jump saw Serena Williams place first with a jump of 5-05.00 (1.65m), Kaitlyn McGinnitey and Sophie Dubis placed fourth along with JaDerrika Welch from UT Martin with a jump of 5-01.00 (1.55m). 
 
In the Women's 1 Mile Run the Redhawks had four athletes in the top five with Taylor Fox placing first, Madalyn Gray placing second, Layla Fliege placing third, and Alayna Sparr placing fifth,
 
Fox finished with a time of 5: 09.69, Gray finished with a time of 5:12.60, Layla Fliege's time was 5: 19.28 and Alayna Sparr finished with a time of 5:42.11 which was just behind Southern Arkansas Logan Warren.
 
Graduate Student Megan Deimeke earned a first-place finish in the Women's Shot Put with a throw of 43-02.50 (13.17m)
 
Mackenzie Williams finished third with a throw of 40-03.25 (12.27m) in the Women's Shot Put while Bailie Hux finished fifth and Tayler Gudde finished eighth with throws of 38-11.50 (11.87m) and 32-03.75 (9.85m).
 
The Redhawks had five athletes compete in the Men's Long Jump with Donald Hatfield Jackson taking the first-place medal, Chris Johnson finishing second, and Aarion Jackson finishing third.
 
Hatfield Jackson led the Redhawks with a jump of 25-00.75 (7.64m). The freshman Chris Johnson had a jump of 23-02.50 and Aarion Johnson was right behind him with a jump of 22-11.75 (7.00m).
 
Four Redhawk men placed in the top seven in the 400-meter Dash on Saturday. 
 
Micheal Weaver led the Redhawks with a time of 51.34 finishing second.
 
Chris Johnson and Momoh Brema placed third and fourth with times of 52.97 and 53.01. Xzavier Bartlett ran a time of 54.13 which earned him a seventh-place finish.
 
Freshman Connor Moore and Freshman Luke Collins also ran in the Men's 400-meter dash placing 10th and 12th
 
In the Men's 55-meter dash Brock Wood was the lone Semo athlete to make the finals.
 
Wood placed fifth along with UT Martin's Ja'Kobe Ward with a dash of 6.62.
 
Terrico Garrett and Mark Crawford took the top two spots in the Men's 800-meter run. Garrett finished first with a time of 1:55.42 and Crawford finished second with a time of 2:00.9
 
Three Redhawks competed in the Women's 800-meter run, with Erika Mellor taking home the first-place finish with a time of 2:23.00. Lilly Early placed third and Brianna Payton placed fourth.
 
Early ran for a time of 2:26.34 and Payton finished with a time of 2:27.81.
 
In the Men's High Jump, SEMO had three athletes compete. With Mason Clough finishing first along with Darius Holland of UT martin. They had a jump of 6-02.75 (1.90m). Shea Degraaf had a jump of 6-00.75 (1.85m) which earned him a third-place finish.
 
Serena Williams placed first in the Women's triple Jump with a jump of 38-04.75 (11.70m)
 
Anna Thomason and Todjai Ross placed second and third in the Women's triple Jump, with jumps of 35-11.25 (10.95m) and 34-04.25 (10.47m).
 
Ciara Potter finished with a jump of 33-10.25 (10.32m) and a fifth-place finish. 
 
In the Women's 200 Meter Dash Sandrea Cogio placed 11th and Megan Aubuchon placed 13th.
 
The women's and men's 3000-meter Run kicked off around 5:00 p.m.
 
The women swept the top five with Katie Wegmann, Hannah Eastman, Lexie Dockstader, Mackenzie Pugh, and Kayla Vogelsang.
 
Wegmann and Eastman Crushed the race, finishing in 10:06.87 and the ladder just right behind with a time of 10:07.17. Both of those times broke the facility record for the event,
 
Dockstader and Pugh were a close third and fourth place finish, with times of 10:50.88 and 10:57.18
 
Kayla Vogelsang finished with a time of 11:10.79. Sarah Russom also ran the race with a sub 11:30.00 time
 
The men had four runners compete and all placed in the top four in the event.
 
Nick Cimmarusti took home the gold, running the long race in 8:41.71. Right behind him Aaron Modrow finished second. The senior from Junction City, Kansas completed the race in 8:49.16.
 
Seth Gleason and Clayton Eftink finished in third and fourth, with times of 8:54.27 and 9:04.16.
 
Luke Busateri got the Redhawks off to a great start in the men's high jump, with a jump that went for 46-03.50 (14.11m). The jump was good enough for a second-place finish.
 
Aarion Jackson continued the hot streak placing third with a 45-00.50 (13.73m)
 
The final events of the day included the women's 4x400-meter relay which saw SEMO have three separate groups who finished second, third and fourth.
 
In second place, Daja Gordon, Laila Hardin, Leanza Dwaah, and Breanna Miles completed the relay in 4:15.13.
 
Third place, the team of Sandra Cogio, Megan Aubuchon, Taylor Fox, Hannah Eastman crossed the line in 4:21.92.
 
For fourth place, the Redhawk group of Erika Mellor, Lily Early, Payton Brianna, and Madalyn Gray finished with a time of 4:40.38
 
Micheal Weaver, Mark Crawford, Terrico Garrett, and Justin Splitt finished first in the Men's 4x400 Meter Relay with a time of 3:28.27.
 
SEMO also finished second and third in the Men's 4x400 Meter Relay. The second-place team of Connor Moore, Chris Johnson, Brenden Parham, and Brook Wood finished with a time of 3:36.93
 
The third-place team finished with a time of 3:49.57 which consisted of Luke Collins, Xzavier Bartlett, Momoh Brema, and Noah Little. 
 
Track & Field will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 20-21st for the John Gartland Invite in Terre Haute, Indiana. The invite will be held at the Indiana State University Indoor Track Complex.