After a weekend away from home, Washburn track and field returned to the Washburn Indoor Athletic Facility Feb. 10 for the Ichabod Mid-Week Challenge. Even with a smaller group of teams and athletes competing, there was no lack of standout performances.
“I have been looking forward to this meet for that reason. Six quality teams is really nice. It’s not all the time you want to go to a huge meet with a ton of people,” said Washburn head coach Cameron Babb. “When you can put together heats and races and fields that are high caliber and focused on the right athletes, that’s what we saw today.”
Starting with field events, the men’s weight throw featured six athletes for Washburn, the deepest of any event for the day. Leading them was senior Sam Stranathan who finished in seventh place with a top throw of 16.98 meters.
In the other throwing event, sophomore Justice Akinmoladun finished in fourth place with a long shot put throw of 14.72 meters.
The Ichabods were very successful in the long jump on the men’s side. Freshman Connor Last and sophomore Josh Hopkins finished in second and third place respectively as the only two entries in the event for Washburn. Last finished with a long jump of 7.38 meters and Hopkins not far behind with 7.29.
Both were well past the 7.12 meter NCAA Division II provisional mark, qualifying them for nationals consideration.
Staying on the field in women’s pole vault, sophomore Tassilyn Bolin and senior Natalie Lanman tied for eighth in the event with a height of 3.46 meters.
On the men’s side of the event, junior Zac Chandler cleared 4.87 meters, giving him a fourth place finish as well as clearing the 4.78 meter Division II provisional mark.
As the only competitor on either side in the triple jump, sophomore Josie Hickerson had a successful day, finishing in sixth place with a jump of 10.94 meters, good for a personal record.
On the track and on the men’s side the Ichabods were just as active on the leaderboards. In the 60-meter dash, Last and sophomore Wyatt Heiman finished in the top-ten with times of 6.95 and 6.96 respectively. Last was good for fifth place while Heiman slotted in at seventh.
In the 60-meter hurdles event, Washburn placed two in the top five. Senior Logan Stock came in fifth with a time of 8.41 seconds and sophomore Romain Henry took second place, finishing in 8.13 seconds, clearing the Division II provisional time of 8.23 seconds.
Freshman Jacob Herr had a solid showing in the 400-meter dash, finishing in sixth place and 49.77 seconds, a personal record for his young career.
A few Washburn school records were broken to conclude the day. First on the men’s side was sophomore Eric Patterson Jr. in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 21.97 seconds, breaking the previous best of 22.18 seconds.
“We had lots of personal bests and we had lots of freshman that were running the 60 hurdles, the 2’s [and] the 4’s that all set personal bests,” Babb said. “We had a lot of good performances all over the place.”
In the final event of the night, the quartet of sophomores, Isabella Hohl and seniors Darian Hillebert, Lyndsay Stinson and Chia Okoro broke the Ichabod record in the 4×400 meter relay.
“I was looking at the times up on the screen and I knew that we were in a good position. I was like you know, ‘ let’s just go out and compete’,” said Okoro, who was the anchor in the relay. “It feels amazing, it feels well deserved and it felt really good honestly. Everything worked together and we did all of our part to make it happen.”
The teams time of 3:49.12 shattered the previous high mark of 3:57.09 and was good for second in the event which included four Division I teams.
“It was a great way to finish, those girls smashed the school record and put themselves pretty high up on the national list,” Babb said. “All day it was looking like it was going to be a good finish because all of our kids were feeling good.”
Both teams will have a quick turnaround before competing in the Jason’s Deli Ichabod Invitational Saturday, Feb. 12. That meet serves as the final before the beginning of the MIAA Indoor Championships.

Full Results
Men’s
60-Meter Dash
Connor Last – 5th place – 6.95 seconds
Wyatt Heiman – 7th place – 6.96 seconds (PR)
Hunter Hess – 12th place – 7.19 seconds (PR)
60-Meter Hurdles
Romain Henry – 2nd place – 8.13 seconds (NCAA D2)
Locan Stock – 5th place – 8.41 seconds (PR)
Pau Borillo-Febrer – 8th place – 8.65 seconds
200-Meter Dash
Eric Patterson Jr. – 9th place – 21.97 seconds (PR) (School Record)
Hunter Hess – 15th place – 22.28 seconds (PR)
Josh Hopkins – 18th place – 22.55 seconds (PR)
Teondre Carter – 23rd place – 23.36 seconds (PR)
400-Meter Dash
Jacob Herr – 6th place – 49.77 seconds (PR)
Pau Borillo-Febrer – 15th place – 53.13 seconds (PR)
High Jump
Logan Stock – 9th place – 1.95 meters
Tom Haug – 11th place – 1.90 meters
Kyler Knapier – 15th place – 1.85 meters (PR)
Long Jump
Connor Last – 2nd place – 7.38 meters (NCAA D2)
Josh Hopkins – 3rd place – 7.29 meters (PR) (NCAA D2)
Pole Vault
Zac Chandler – 4th place – 4.87 meters (NCAA D2)
Shot Put
Justice Akinmoladun – 4th place – 14.72 meters
Jaden Magana – 11th place – 11.92 meters
Weight Throw
Sam Stranathan – 7th place – 16.98 meters
Patrick Altenor – 9th place – 15.18 meters (PR)
Jaden Magana – 10th place – 14.73 meters
Logan Ayers – 11th place – 14.33 meters
Bradley Breckenridge – 14th place – 10.92 meters
Je’Shon Edwards – NP – Foul
Women’s
60-Meter Hurdles
Kylie Ray – 13th place – 9.52 meters (PR)
Taylor Grasser – 15th place -10.08 meters (PR)
200-Meter Dash
Taylor Grasser – 19th place – 28.09 seconds
Kylie Ray – 20th place – 29.06 seconds
400-Meter Dash
Katelyn Jones – 9th place – 59.47 seconds (PR)
Long Jump
Taylor Grasser – 14th place – 5.07 meters (PR)
Pole Vault
Tassilyn Bolin – T8th place – 3.46 meters
Natalie Lanman – T8th place – 3.46 meters
Virgi Scardanzan – NP – NH
Triple Jump
Josie Hickerson – 6th place – 10.94 meters (PR)
4X400 Meter Relay
Isabella Hohl, Darian Hillebert, Lyndsay Stinson, Chia Okoro – 2nd place – 3:49.12 (NCAA D2, School Record)

Edited by: Glorianna Noland, Ellie Walker