Navy Barely Squeaks By Army in Star Meet Saturday

ANNAPOLIS, MD. – The Army West Point men’s track and field team dropped a close decision to Navy, 103-100, in Saturday’s Star Meet, which is part of the Star Series presented by USAA.

The Black Knights had 10 event wins and 22 total top three finishes. August Cook had a mark of 72.08m in the javelin throw, which was just .68m off his personal best. The Cadets had event wins in all four throwing events, with Jamir Gibson taking first in shot put and discus and Marco Risi winning hammer throw.

Event Winners
400m hurdles: Calvin Wetzel – 53.13
1500m: Mitchell Burr – 3:50.24
5000m: Marshall Beatty – 14:27.61
4x100m Relay: 41.31
4x400m Relay: 3:13.35
Discus: Jamir Gibson – 53.24m
Javelin: August Cook – 72.08m
Hammer Throw: Marco Risi – 58.59m
Shot Put: Jamir Gibson – 17.51m
Triple Jump: Tyrese Bender – 14.53m

Notable Performances
100m: Ryan Hogan – 10.77, second
200m: Ryan Hogan – 21.41, second
200m: Kedrin Jefferson – 21.63, second
800m: Luke Griner – 1:51.58, second
800m: Peter Smith – 1:52.20, third
1500m: Caden Foster – 3:50.31, second
3000 Steeplechase: Daniel Horoho – 9:22.26, third
Discus: Geoff Kirk – 52.32m, third
Hammer Throw: Deven McNeal – 55.28m, third
Javelin Throw: Chris Barrett – 67.89m, second
Long Jump: Josh Heiman – 7.01m, second
Shot Put: Jamir Gibson – 17.51m, second

Coach Mike Smith’s Thoughts
“Our men were decided underdogs going into this meet, but you wouldn’t have known that by the way we performed. We won 10 of the 19 events and We competed like we were the best team and in the end we almost pulled off the win. It takes 102 points to win the meet so we came up 2 points short of the goal and I can point to several events where a small incremental difference would have turned the meet in our favor. In the men’s long jump Josh Heiman came up 3 cm short of the win. In the men’s 800 Luke Griner came up .04 seconds short of the win. If we win either of those events, we win the meet. It was incredibly close. So, while there is no changing the outcome, I am pleased with what today’s competition indicates for us in the future.

“Our throwers carried us today. We won all four of the throwing events and I don’t know when or if we have ever done that before. Our two firstie men continue to be untouchable in their respective events. Geoff Kirk only needed one throw to put the meet away in the shot and August Cook was a clear winner in the javelin. Those two guys are good enough to throw at the NCAA meet, so it was great to see them hit big marks here today. They are only going to get better.

“On the track we won both relays and looked good doing it. We have more that we can do in both of those events. In the 5000m, Marshall Beatty followed up his win at the Patriot League cross country meet with dominating performance today. He put in a powerful surge with a mile to go and eventually separated from the field. His last mile was 4:15 and was simply too much for the other runners to handle. The most dramatic outcome of the day was our 1-2 sweep in the 1500. The navy runner held the lead over all but 10 meters of the last lap and those last 10 meters proved costly as our two guys swept past him as he struggled to the line. I expected Caden Foster to be in the hunt for the win, but it was a bit of a surprise to see Mitchell Burr roaring down the homestretch. He is just a plebe and I doubt he has ever been in this kind of a race. He grew up in a hurry today and came out on top. Now he has to stay there. Finally, I have to mention our team captain Tyrese Bender. He has endured a lot and we rely on him at every meet. He won the triple jump today convincingly and he now owns three of those titles. He is an alpha performer and I like watching him go to work out there.

“As a whole, we really outperformed expectations today. We have struggled to get consistent training and have battled the pandemic environment all year, but today we looked like a competitive track team. None of those inconsistencies were apparent. We were very good. And we will get much better in the next month as we prepare for the championship meets.”

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