ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Panthers traveled the short distance to Grand Valley State for their second indoor meet of the young season. This is the second and last meet of 2018 for Davenport, the next time they will be in action is in January. At the meet sophomore Romario Salmon had two top-three finishes, one in the long jump and another in the high jump. In addition, Obi Iwuagwu bested the program record in the triple jump, beating out the previous record set in 2012 by .2m. He leaped 13.89m in the event. The men's team finished in eighth place with a team score of 22 points out of the 27 teams that had competing athletes. Chieme Udaku broke the school record in the triple jump. The previous record was 10.94 by Kyla Mann in 2017, at the meet Udaku hit a mark of 11.08m!
 
On the women's side Brittany Parker, Emma Schafer, Betsy Lovett, and Udaku had the best outing for the Panthers. Parker ran the 600-meter run and finished with a time of 1:39.60, taking seventh place out of the 21 athletes who participated. Schafer competed in a couple different events, but her best showing was in the high jump. She passed the 1.54m height and finished in ninth place individually. Lovett took eighth place in the pole vault, passing the 3.45m height with ease before being stumped by the 3.60m height. Lastly, Udaku recorded a mark of 11.08m in the triple jump, on her second attempt, to take ninth place in the event, and set a new school record.
 
For the men, freshman Colin Grady snuck his way into the top-10 of a crowded 200-meter event. He ran the half lap in 22.50 seconds, taking ninth place out of the 56 athletes who ran the event. Salmon had an impressive day, taking third place in the high jump and second in the long jump. He passed the height of 1.94m on his first try and then was unsuccessful at a height of 1.99m. In the long jump he leaped 7.10m on his final attempt, propelling him into second place. Right behind Salmon was Grady, who recorded a leap of 6.79m in the long jump to take fourth place individually. Iwuagwu competed in the triple jump and his best mark was 13.89m, putting him in the top eight at the meet and into the DU record books!
 
Davenport has to wait until January 11 before their next official meet. The Panthers will compete at Saginaw Valley State for three straight weekends in January.
 
Story by: Devin Steiner
 
Picture credit: Tyler Triemstra