Jumper gets first collegiate win for FSU
Special to the Outlook
BATON ROUGE, La. — Florida State’s Curtis Williams recorded a personal best and his first-ever collegiate win in the long jump at the LSU Alumni Invitational in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
Williams’ leap of 7.87 meters topped an outstanding field, and teammate Jaiden Rollins finished seventh in the event with a top jump of 7.26 meters.
It was an remarkable day all around for the Seminoles who saw several personal best recorded, including a win by multiple All-American Jeremiah Davis in the men’s triple jump with a leap of 16.78 meters. In fact, the Noles had a very strong showing in the event with Kyvon Tatham taking sixth with a jump of 15.18 meters just ahead of Xavion Lockwood in seventh at 14.94 meters.
Amir Willis finished second in the men’s 200 meters with a time of 20.30 and Milton Ingraham also finished runner-up in the men’s discus at 58.32 meters.
A pair of Seminole turned in top-level performances in third place finishes with James Rivera clocked at 50.37 in the men’s 400 meter hurdles and Amani Heaven’s top throw in the women’s shot (15.76 meters) good for third in the field. Heaven finished fifth in the women’s discus with a toss of 50.54.
Winston Quinn’s time of 1:49.67 in the men’s 800 meters put him in fifth place and teammate Joab Francois was just three places back with a time of 1:51.20.
On the women’s side, Kayla Pinkard was sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 12.74 meters and Victoria Josse was seventh with a jump of 12.66 meters.
Ava Klein took eighth in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 59.89 and Ismael Kone finished in the same spot in the men’s 200 meters with a time of 20.76.
The Noles’ women’s 4×400 meter relay team of Taylor Banks, Dajaz DeFrand, Alexandra Webster and Ava Klein finished fourth with a time of 3:36.68. Also finishing among the top 10 in their events were Riley Simmons who was ninth in the women’s hammer throw (47.42 meters) and Jacob Hoeffner in the men’s discus with a best toss of 49.21 meters.
Faith Banks ran a terrific race in the women’s 400 meters finishing 11th with a time of 53.24 and Cameron Daniel was 18th in the men’s 400 meters with a time of 47.73. Kaniya Johnson’s time of 24.08 in the women’s 200 meters put her in 19th place and she was 43rd in the 100 meters (12.09), while Dajaz DeFrand finished 15th in the women’s 100 meters in 11.50.
Ella Madson’s time of 14.80 in the women’s 100 meter hurdles was good for 27th place and Taylor Banks was 32nd in the men’s 200 meters with a time of 21.43.
FSU’s team will split up again this weekend with some traveling to Austin, Texas, for the Longhorn Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Another group heads to UNF in Jacksonville, Fla. for competition on the same dates.
